House Of Melodies
by MusicalDaydream
Summary: It's not the easiest life as an orphan, especially when there is absolutely no one willing to adopt you. What kind of chaos ensures when Kairi enters of a house of musical hippies? SoraxKairi Complete!
1. The Definition of Home

A/N: Good day, peoples. Umm… this is my new fic? Nothing too much about it; it's just another crazy music themed fic that my mind came up with… it's a bit random & spur of the moment-ish, but I like the plot enough & hopefully I'll actually be driven to finish it. It was inspired by The Great Gilly Hopkins, and yeah, it's kind of a lot like the book, except different... I don't think that made any sense, but that's okay. XD The Music In Our Hearts, the chaptered fic that I have been working on for just about forever & not posted, is almost done, & hopefully it will be by the end of April. I have nothing much else to say, other than please read my fic & leave your reviews. D

Oh yes, about updates. I will try to… not making any promises, because this will most likely be my second priority until… um… yeah. XD

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, or Tifa from FF VII. Or The Great Gilly Hopkins.

Chapter One: The Definition of Home

Kairi chewed on her thumbnail as she waited for the social worker in front of the house that she had just-so-recently been kicked out of, for lack of a better phrase. It wasn't HER fault that she had let the dog break the antique table. And it was just as little of HER fault that the vase heirloom that was sitting on the table broke.

So maybe she wasn't paying attention to the dog while her foster parents weren't home, but she was busy, okay? Busy with homework and the whatnot that she was forced to do for school! She didn't even get all of it finished that night!

...So maybe she was procrastinating, and off in her own little world. If ONLY her foster parents had made her confident that she was going to stay with them, none of it would have happened. Too bad that they weren't confident with keeping her; they were just doing Tifa, her social worker and their "friend," a favor.

And the favor only lasted for about two months this time. Tifa had straight out lied to her- she said that this was probably the last time she would have to change homes.

But she was used to it; after all, people lied to her all the time. First it was her birth mother, who left her at the daycare one day and never came back. Next it was the old lady at the daycare, who assured her that her mother would come back, only for Kairi to be greeted by the social worker. And then, it was just family after family. Families that had pretended to be perfect- but weren't even perfect on the outside, let alone on the inside.

Tifa was probably one of the few people that actually understood how Kairi felt- that under that rude attitude and the sulky demeanor, she was actually a semi-sweet kid inside. Except, no one really dug for the "inside."

Tifa actually seemed more like her mother than any of her actual foster mothers did- she cared for her, and always said that she'd be available if Kairi was facing any trouble. Kairi took her up on those words- almost every week. She'd call her for the littlest complaint, the littlest discomfort that she had faced in whatever household she was staying in.

However, Tifa wasn't exactly mother material. She was practically married to her job, and if she wasn't at work, she was with some new guy every week. There would be no room for a full-time kid in her life; she had too many part-time ones to deal with that. And, well, the whole relationships thing.

Kairi didn't care about that- she longed to be adopted by Tifa, because she knew that she cared. All of the other ones- they didn't care. They were pretty much just all doing Tifa some sort of a "favor." For all thirteen years of her life, she had waited for that to come.

Except there was always this little voice in the back of Kairi's head- her conscience, as they called it, who said that she was wrong, completely wrong. Even if Tifa really did care about her- which she did, Kairi told herself- she just wouldn't have the time. She'd barely have time to make dinner for the two of them- let alone breakfast and lunch.

Kairi set her bag down, and opened it, just to check one more time that she had everything she needed. She sat down on the curb to look through everything. There were a few sets of ugly clothes that her last foster mother bought her, there were her toiletries, and there were was the one thing that she always had with her- a golden harp. Now, the gold was almost completely worn off from all of the tears that Kairi had shed on it, but the little chunks of shine that remained on there were all that Kairi held on to. There wasn't much else to, anyway.

She remembered the first time she had gotten that harp. She was with first foster mother, the only one that could halfway stand her, at a store. She had first seen the harp because it was small and shiny, something that had always attracted little kids' attention. She had walked over to it, wandering away from her foster mother, and had taken it in her hands, and had walked back over to her. She pulled on the sleeve of the woman, holding it out to her. She had shaken her head, no, but Kairi stamped her foot and threw a tantrum in the store. She got what she had wanted that day, but then the next she was shipped back to Tifa.

It was a worthwhile trade-off; she would have let Kairi go sometime later, anyway. And now, the harp was her good-luck charm- every time she was kicked out of one house and brought into another, she gripped it for good luck.

Kairi glanced at the watch that she wore. Tifa was late, and she was NEVER late. Kairi felt like throwing something, maybe the rock on the sidewalk, perhaps? Where on earth was she? She was usually so early that it bugged Kairi to death, but today, she would rather her be an hour early instead of late.

Kairi picked up a rock. It was fairly small, lying in the palm of her hand. But it was nice and rugged- perfect to throw at the street. She raised her arm, and thrust it as far as she could into the poor road.

Right after her outburst, she heard the familiar roar of the engine of Tifa's car. She could recognize it anywhere, even when she was on the bus home from the hell-hole that most people referred to as school. It always had a familiar buzz to it, and it sounded a bit higher pitched than the others.

"Hey there, sweetie." Tifa smiled down at her. "Sorry I'm late. I had an appointment with your new foster parents right before I was supposed to pick you up. They couldn't do it any other time."

"Does that mean that I'm moving in already?" Kairi whined. She wanted to stay at least one night in Tifa's apartment. She could tell before that Tifa wasn't the most comfortable with a tween in her apartment alone, but it was the one place where Kairi felt at home- where she felt like she was raised by someone who cared.

See, Tifa's home always had this certain ring to it- and it wasn't exactly something anyone could put their finger on. Maybe it was because it always smelt like freshly lit candles, even though there were none lit. It always felt like there was music playing in the background, something calming and classical- even though there was none.

"Yes, young lady. And I happen to know that Cloud and Aerith are amazing parents that are willing to take you in without me trying to persuade them." Tifa spoke as she drove down the street. "They were my best friends in college. So you better respect them, okay?" Tifa was speaking in a firm voice, one that she barely brought out.

"And if I don't?" Kairi challenged her.

"Then you'll stay there, and Cloud will make your life a living hell." Tifa bluntly responded, as if it were the truth.

Kairi wasn't fazed a bit; Tifa always liked to scare her a little bit before she moved into a new house, thinking that it'll be the last and final. The joke had gotten old, and Kairi was no longer scared. She wasn't afraid of them being scary, she was just afraid that they wouldn't love her unconditionally, the way Tifa did, she told herself.

She awaited the usual wink that Tifa gave her when she said that they were going to be "mean." This time, though, there wasn't one. Was she serious about this home?

Kairi groaned. If she was going into a boot-camp type of home, she might as well try to persuade Tifa out of it now, instead of making her drive back later. Besides, the drive seemed to be awfully long... "Tifa, please don't make me go." She let out a whine.

"Why not? This family is going to be just like the rest- nice and friendly. Don't worry about the living hell part." Tifa seemed to regret what she had said before about Cloud.

"And they're going to dump me sooner or later... so why not sooner?" Kairi grumbled under her breath, hoping that Tifa wouldn't hear.

Tifa's ears seemed to be pretty sharp today, though. She had heard every last word of Kairi's comment. "Kairi... Cloud and Aerith aren't like that. I promise." She tried to calm the girl down, knowing that she was not the best at controlling her anger. She gave her the motherly look that seemed to be the only thing that could break the barrier around her heart, and waited for her to give in.

When she didn't, Tifa pulled to the side of the road to have a little chat. "Kairi... listen to me." She looked for the redhead through the mirror. "Kairi, look at me. I've even stopped the car to talk to you about this."

Kairi looked up, slightly. Her eyes met with Tifa's for one moment before she could feel the tears running down her face. Tifa, as much as she cared for Kairi, was completely exasperated. She took the keys out of the drive and opened the back door to sit next to Kairi and comfort her.

"Kairi... I swear that Cloud and Aerith will be different from every other foster parents you have. Really." Tifa couldn't do much to convince the girl.

Kairi continued to look in the other direction as more tears slid down her face. "You've always said that, Tifa... and I've always believed you. I think it's time now that we both just stop trying to overcome the impossible and just admit that there will be no family out there for me." Kairi's hand was gripping to the not-so-golden harp as she wept.

"Now, now," Tifa pulled the resistant Kairi into a tight hug. "I'll make a real promise to you, and I won't back down on it." She looked at the girl seriously. "If it doesn't work out between you and the Strife household, I promise..." She thought for a second. "I promise that I'll adopt you and you can live with me."

Kairi stopped sobbing, and her eyes grew wide. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah." She ruffled the red hair on Kairi's head. "But that doesn't mean that you can be rude to them. If you're so sure that you just can't last another day, you have my cell number, right?"

Kairi gave a little nod.

"Now, let's get going. Put a smile on that face!" Tifa grinned, hoping that Kairi would follow suit and also do the same.

Kairi attempted a smile to please Tifa, but it turned back into the expression that lay on her face as soon as Tifa had started driving once again.

She looked out the window at the homes they were passing by. They all looked so cute and handsome on the outside, and Kairi had wanted it to be left like that. Too bad that she had gone through so many homes in the past ten years that she couldn't marvel at the beauty of houses anymore. She could care less for the house- she just wanted a true _home_ inside.

They had driven up to a quiet, serene lake. There was a fairly large house next to it, decorated to be a bit like a log cabin in the woods, although any person could see that it was much bigger and fancier than a log cabin could ever be.

"Come on out," Tifa opened the door for Kairi to get out. Kairi stiffly did so, carrying her bag and clutching her harp in her hand.

They walked into a house that was almost too big for words. A man with long blonde hair opened the door for them, and walked them over to the living room, with a beautifully placed white grand piano next to a double bass.

They sat on the cream colored leather pouch with absolutely no stains, marks, or rips whatsoever. This family was obviously rich, and liked to look the part, too.

A woman in a pink dress walked into the room. She had a big pink bow in her braided hair, and had a very kind look to her face. "Hey, Tifa." She greeted her friend, and then looked at Kairi. "You must be Kairi." Kairi held out her hand, and the woman gave a firm shake. "I'm Aerith."

She brought in a tray of cookies and lemonade, and poured some for the three of them. Then, she started to speak.

"Kairi, I'm so glad that we could have you... Cloud and I love to raise kids, and we love to spread the passion of music..."

Kairi looked at Tifa. She hadn't mentioned anything about music.

"Well... we have a big family here. I'll introduce you to them later. First, I have a question for you. Have you ever thought of playing an instrument?"

Kairi shook her head. What kind of family was this?

"Well, then, you should think of it now... our whole family plays music. Squall, our oldest, plays double bass and acoustic guitar; Maria, she's turning seventeen soon, she plays the cello; Wakka, he's fifteen, plays the trumpet and bassoon; Yuffie, she's fourteen, plays viola and clarinet; Selphie, she's twelve, plays violin, piano, and organ; I play the organ and piano; and my husband, Cloud- he's the blonde one- plays cello and xylophone."

Kairi's felt her head spin with so many names and instruments. She wasn't going to belong here- everyone else was talented, and most likely born into the family.

"We all teach smaller kids, except for Yuffie and Selphie. I also know a lot of music teachers around here, so you have a pretty nice range to choose from for your instrument."

Kairi was dumbfounded. She wanted to live in a house, not a school! She looked at Tifa, who amazingly seemed to be approving of what Aerith and Cloud did. She put on a plead for help on her face, but the plead was ignored.

She sighed. It might be a while before Aerith stopped talking.

TBC…

End notes: Yeah, the family is big & a really weird combination… Maria's the only OC, and she doesn't have a particularly big part, but she's there for a reason. What reason? You may never know. jk jk. You'll know within the next few chapters. I'm wondering what I was on when I thought of this idea...


	2. The Definition of Annoyance

A/N: Hello there. I personally find this chapter a little bit boring, but… ah. Sora's coming the next one…

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, The Great Gilly Hopkins, or Tifa from FF VII.

Chapter 2: The Definition of Annoyance

Kairi had slept peacefully that night- sort of. She had been given her own room, which wasn't an unusual thing to happen, but it was nice, nonetheless. She remembered that her second foster family was extremely cheap, so she was put in the same room as the baby. She groaned at the thought of the memory of waking up every ten minutes to hear screaming.

After chatting a little bit with Aerith, she was introduced to Cloud, Leon, Selphie, and Yuffie. She had yet to meet the others, but for now, the family seemed decent.

Aerith had immediately started to treat her as if she was her mother, and Kairi was content with that. They had eaten lunch with the rest of the family and Tifa afterwards, and then Tifa had to leave. Kairi had silently prayed that she would stay a little bit longer before being completely thrown to the strangers, but apparently, Tifa had already set up another "appointment."

She had tried her best to be polite, and had kept her snide comments to herself. More gold had fallen off the harp she was gripping by then, from Kairi's tight clutch. Now that Tifa wasn't there, it was the only thing that could possibly comfort her.

After lunch, Selphie and Yuffie had left the table to do whatever they had planned to do that day, and Aerith had given her a tour of the huge house. She had pointed out the calendar, where all of the kids wrote their appointments and who was going to take them, and she had said that almost every Sunday the family had a gig to go to.

All of it was enough to make her head spin. This family was insanely obsessed with their instruments and nothing else- and Kairi was going to stick out worse than a sore thumb. Selphie had consistently bothered her about what instrument she was going to start on, while Yuffie was busy telling Selphie to please stop scaring the new girl.

Yeah, the new girl- that's what they referred to her as. It seemed more like going to a new school than a new home. And did she mention that she was going to be home schooled? Meaning that she would be facing these weirdos almost every waking moment of the day.

Kairi barely noticed that none of the family members looked the slightest bit alike- except for maybe Aerith and Selphie, and all they had was the same colored hair. She was too busy drowning in her misery and preparing for the next time she was going to complain to Tifa about anything and everything.

Their house was much, much bigger than it had looked on the outside, considering that every family member practically had their own studio in their bedroom, with some form of a wall dividing the rooms. In Squall's, he had used a few bookshelves- and the rest of the family applied almost the same principle. Yuffie's was a colorful beaded curtain that divided the two rooms, and Selphie just left them combined. There were two doors in each room leading out to the hallway, and the hallway itself looked a bit too much like a dormitory to Kairi.

And it had turned out that the family owned two grand pianos- the white one in the living room was the performing one, and the black one in Aerith's studio was the practicing one- at least for Aerith and Selphie. Everyone else's instruments were located and arranged decoratively in their rooms.

There had been something that had caught her eye, in Aerith and Cloud's bedroom. Propped against a wall was an old harp. It was obvious it was old because of how weary it looked, and how it was slightly scratched. Aerith must have seen her looking at the instrument, because she then felt a hand on her shoulder and a voice asking, "You want to play harp?"

What an annoyance. Why did people always assume things about her? Everyone at school thought that she was emo, even though she didn't look the part. And, her teachers had always thought of her as stupid. Same with her foster parents. And, she thought, they're no different from the rest of them.

But now, she couldn't tear her eyes away from the harp. She might have nodded, but she wouldn't realize until later, she was so captivated by the instrument in front of her. Despite the scratches and the weariness, it was beautiful. She moved to touch it, and slightly plucked one of the thick strings. When she realized that Aerith was looking at her, she came back down to earth.

"It was my mom's harp... she loved it." It was all the woman could muster.

Kairi wondered if she had offended her by touching it, and slowly walked away from the instrument, into her new room, which was right next to Selphie's. It had the same structure as the rest of the kids' rooms, except it was empty outside of a desk, a bed, a music stand, a chair, and an alarm clock. The room felt empty- emptier than it should have, possibly because everything was white.

"I wasn't sure what color you would like; you can decorate it yourself if you really don't like it." Aerith smiled at her.

Kairi tried to smile back. She sat on the bed, and ran her finger along the comforter. It was soft and fluffy. "I'm fine with it."

"I'm glad. Me and Selphie had a bit of an argument about what color it would be- she wanted yellow." Aerith slightly chuckled. She started towards the door. "Now, I know how you teens like your privacy, so I'm going to leave now. But Cloud and I don't like for you to lock doors- so no one will come in if the door's closed."

"Okay." Kairi agreed. It was easier to be nice if they were nice to her. Once Aerith left, she freely flopped on the bed, and groaned. This life wasn't for her, she could already tell. The emptiness of the room felt like it was swallowing her, although her new family seemed a little bit more hospitable than the others that she had been with before.

She lay in her bed for a little bit longer. She loved how it felt, and how soft the comforter was. Maybe this could be her sanctuary. Maybe this would be the home that she would stay in, as different as she was from the rest of the family. Maybe it would be a nice adjustment.

She quickly pushed those thoughts out of her head. It was a little too soon to be accepted into this family, wasn't it? Although they seemed to be their normal selves at lunch, all happy and perky, without a care in the world, maybe it was all an act. Another favor that they were doing Tifa. Why couldn't both of them just accept that and have Kairi just go live with her?

She remembered the deal that Tifa had made with her, and slightly smirked to herself. Although it would be hard to find privacy for a phone call considering that there was no phone in her room, she would find a way. She could always just close the door to her room- well, both doors- and then people would assume that she just wanted privacy. Yes, it was a good plan. The only thing that needed to happen now was a trigger that would allow her to call Tifa.

Now, she did feel as tired as she did a while ago. She hopped up from her bed, and walked out, hoping not to get lost in the dormitory of a house. She heard the notes of an organ, coming somewhere from Selphie's room. Kairi assumed she was practicing. The door was wide open, and she saw Selphie, with her tongue poking out of her mouth, in front of the organ.

When she was done with what was laid out in front of her, she looked over at Kairi. "Hey," she grinned. "What's up?"

"Just wandering around..."

"Oh. Well, I'd suggest you do something before Cloud comes around... he's going to lecture you." She started to play another song.

From that comment, Kairi had about twenty questions to ask Selphie. Why was she calling him Cloud when he was her father? Why would he lecture her? And there were a lot more... Kairi gave Selphie a Look, and then walked back over to her bedroom where her small bag of things lay. She began to unpack her clothes, and decided to at least organize what she had for now. When she reached into her pocket and pulled out the harp, she was unsure of wear to put it. If it was on her desk, it would allow the world to see it, but if it was in her closet, it would just be tucked away from her and the rest of the world. She didn't want it to be too hidden. She finally decided on placing it on the shelf of the closet, so she could take a peek at it every now and then, but most people wouldn't notice it was there.

Since her door was wide open, she saw Cloud come in from the corner of her eye. "Hi... getting settled in?"

Her eye felt twitchy when she heard him speak. Why did he just come in like that, without even bothering to knock? But then, the door was open, and he did own the house... but what else did he think he owned?

She was about to lash out at him, but then she remembered that Tifa said to behave herself. So, she continued to carry on what she was doing, although she seemed very interested in the piece on lint on one of her shirts. "I'm doing good..." She prayed for him to leave then, and her prayers were answered, for once in her lifetime.

She was able to do this slow enough so it was all she did before dinner. The others that she hadn't met yet were still not home- she assumed that they were sleeping over at someone else's home. It was a Saturday after all, and maybe the kids actually did have lives outside of their home schooling and music obsessions.

She had gone to bed extremely tired, but was still stressing about whether Cloud and Aerith were going to keep her or not.

-

She was awoken the next morning by the loud and high pitched zings of the violin. When she looked over at her alarm clock, the time read 5:30. She took a peek out her window, and it was still extremely dark outside. Who was practicing so early? It was obviously Selphie- she was the only violinist in the family.

Kairi grouchily threw off her covers and got up off the bed. She was **not** a morning person to say the least. She stormed over to Selphie's room, and the door was opened. She was playing a weird looking violin- a white one that was hooked to an amp. _(1)_

"Hey, Kairi." Selphie gave her a bright and happy smile.

"Do you not realize that it is 5:30 in the morning?" She frowned deeply.

"Yes, in fact I do. I'm the family's alarm clock... I'm usually up by 5 every morning."

Kairi shook her head, and walked back to her room, hoping to get some more sleep. She didn't. The glass-shattering notes of Selphie's violin were keeping her up, and she had really no choice but to get out of bed.

She casually walked downstairs to the dining room, only to be greeted by Yuffie, Cloud, and Aerith. Squall, they said, had already left for an errand.

What a crazy family, she said, and mentally groaned. She wanted to sleep- after all, she didn't get to bed until about nine the night before, because she was wandering aimlessly around the house, and listening to all of the music that everyone was making. She had to admit- she was jealous of the musical talent that everyone in this family carried.

There were still unanswered questions she had in her mind, and as she sat down to a breakfast of waffles, she heard Yuffie call Cloud by his name, not by "Dad" or anything like that. How odd... maybe it would be the right time to ask, and obviously the members of this family were more of morning people than Kairi ever would be.

Yuffie was talking to Cloud a little bit about her archery skills or something like that. She turned to Kairi when she realized her eyes were on her. "Anything wrong?"

"I was wondering... why on earth do both you and Selphie call your father Cloud?" She tried to be as polite as possible, but it didn't exactly come out that way.

Yuffie acted as if she were asked those questions every day. "He prefers it that way. We were all adopted before we turned one, anyway. Except for Squall, he was actually born into this family. And yet, he doesn't even call Cloud 'Dad.'"

Kairi raised her eyebrow- the amazing things that a person finds out about someone else in a few moments. She continued to eat her waffle, which was loaded with maple syrup.

A few hours passed quietly. Yuffie seemed to be doing some homework, and Cloud and Aerith were both reading the newspaper. Kairi, once again, felt extremely out of place as she wandered back into her room. Now, she was so tired that she had fallen asleep despite Selphie's very loud and annoying practicing.

She felt someone shaking her shoulder, and she heard Aerith's voice. "Kairi, honey... Wakka and Maria are home. Would you like to meet them now?"

Kairi quickly got out of bed, and smoothed her hair. Who was waiting in the living room was about to surprise her greatly.

TBC

End notes:_ (1) _Selphie was playing an electric violin.

Review. Tell me what you think. Or else Sora might never enter the story. Jk.


	3. The Definition of Prejudice

A/N: Sorry about the delayed chapter. Lots of stuff happened & I haven't been able to write much, plus I've been finishing up tMioH... which is up now. If you like this fic, you should really go read that one... I think it's a lot better than this one. 

Guess what? Sora's finally in this chapter! tEEhEE!

Disclaimer: I own NOTHING!

Chapter 3: The Definition of Prejudice

Kairi blinked as she looked at who was waving at her. There was no way that she would be living with this person. Yes, she remembered, that's probably a student. It has to be. The real Wakka or Maria is probably down in the kitchen somewhere...

"Hey, you must be Kairi!" The man stuck out his hand. She nervously took it to shake.

There was something completely wrong with this image in Kairi's mind... why would someone like him be living in the same household as everyone else? "Aerith!" She called to the other room. "You're student is here... I think..." The blank look on Wakka's face told her that she was wrong, but she continued to insist to herself that she was right.

"I'm Wakka, your new brother. I guess you must have thought that Aerith was giving lessons today. Nope, she took this weekend off just for you."

Was it still the weekend? All of the crazy events were spinning crazily in her mind. She insisted that this guy was just crazy, maybe Aerth treated her students the way that she would treat her children? This guy was completely dillusional. There was no way on EARTH that he could be her brother. Just... no. There would be absolutely no way.

Kairi ran out to the kitchen to find Aerith cooking lunch. From the way that Aerith looked at her, she was concerned. "What's wrong, Kairi?"

"You or anyone else don't happen to teach a black boy, do you?"

"...yes, I teach several." Aerith was confused.

"Well, I think one of your students are here..." Speak of the devil. Wakka walked right in as soon as Kairi spoke. She blushed... was she wrong?

Aerith nervously laughed. "Kairi, that's Wakka. Your brother."

Kairi could feel herself turn redder as she hung her head. Why was a black guy her brother? He wasn't going to hurt her or push her around or anything... would he? She dashed out of the room, ready to call Tifa and pack. She really did NOT want to be in the position that she was right now.

Wakka looked at Aerith. "What's with her?"

"I don't know. She seemed like an extremely sweet girl when she arrived yesterday. I never realized that she could be so racist." Aerith sighed.

Kairi stopped at the stairwell to listen. They were talking about her and her actions.

"Well, I don't want to live in a home with a racist child! She's so ridiculous, and let me guess, she can't carry a tune?" Wakka was upset. He might have been adopted from Jamaica, but he did not like being called the black boy or any other name with his race in it. His usual good temper was about to give out.

"She hasn't tried anything yet."

"So are you going to keep her?"

"Don't speak like that, Wakka. I'm sure that she'll change."

"Yeah, when the devil goes to heaven."

"She's only thirteen, Wakka. She has time to change, don't get so upset over it."

"Why do you and Cloud do this? WHY? I'm sick of it!"

"Do what, Wakka?"

"Just pluck kids from nowhere and expect to turn them into angels. You might have adopted some of us at birth, and you took in Maria just because you pitied her and then made all of US study Spanish... this has to be the end of it! Well, I'll tell you now, if this one doesn't change... I'm moving out."

"You can't, Wakka. You're only fifteen!"

"No one can stop me. After all, you're so preoccupied with your music and perfectly big family and everything else!"

"Wakka..."

Kairi couldn't bear to listen any further. She ran into her completely white room, and then collapsed onto her bed. He was mean... he was going to push her around... he was going to be an abusive brother... because he's black. She thought to herself. His conversation with Aerith did not exactly convince her that he was an exception to the stereotypes. She picked up the phone to call Tifa, and she dialed her number. All she got was a busy tone. She let a few tears fall down her face. "Take me away from this hell..."

-

Downstairs, Wakka had finally calmed down. Aerith decided to change the subject matter to where he was. "How was the Blitzball game, Wakka? I'm sorry that Kairi just happened to come at the same time as your game or else we would have come and supported you, despite the fact that it was so far away."

Wakka sighed. "We lost... by like a point. We would have got it, but we just ran out of time... oh, by the way, Sora's coming over later. He just got his permit."

"Speaking of which, when are you going to apply for yours? You passed driving school almost a year ago! It'd be nice if you could..."

"Yeah, yeah, take Yuffie and Selphie wherever they please, because you'll let me pick out whatever car I want as long as I follow my little sisters' orders for me to chauffeur them..."

"Don't forget Kairi."

Wakka rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

"Hey, is this Sora the one that's looking for a piano teacher?"

"Yeah! I almost forgot... he told me right before I left to talk to you about that. Don't worry, Aerith, you'll be impressed. This guy is GOOD."

"I'll leave that to when I hear him. Now, you... go practice so I can talk to Maria."

-

Once Kairi was done throwing herself the miniature pity party, she was ready to go down to meet Maria. She quickly washed her face to avoid showing that she had been crying, and walked down to the kitchen where Aerith was sitting down next to a girl. She looked about seventeen, with almost black hair, and very tanned skin. Her eyes were brown and she had a mole in the middle of her cheek. Kairi wanted to scream. First she would be living with a black... but now a Mexican?

Kairi tried her best to act pleasant when she sat down at the table next to them. Her smile was just a bit forced and she kind of looked down the whole time.

"Hola!" The girl put out her hand to shake Kairi's. Oh yes, this girl was most definately Mexican... but could she speak English?

The girl turned back to Aerith to ask, "La es esto?"

Kairi thought that she was going to pass out. This... Mexican... was living under the same roof- a big roof nonetheless, but the same ROOF- and could not speak English. How was she to trust her?

Aerith smiled. "Si."

Was there another unknown fact about the family that everyone knew Spanish? Because Aerith was most definately not speaking with an accent. And she was speaking pretty confidently, not talking as if she was searching for words inside her head. After a few moments of silence from Kairi through the other two's conversation, Aerith turned back to Kairi.

"This is Maria. We adopted her from Mexico a few years ago, when her she lost her family and ran to the US. She's still struggling with English, though."

Kairi sighed. What was wrong with this family? Now she had an even bigger urge to call Tifa as many times as possible until she picked up, but first she had to secure her harp. She ran back up to her room, took out her little harp and stuffed it under her mattress. There was no way that she was allowing the Mexican to steal this. After all, all Mexicans are thieves, are they not?

She panicked as she thought of everything else in their house. Maria had only been here for two years... but maybe over the course of those two years she had stolen so much from the house, but Aerith didn't notice because they had so much money anyway... her heartbeat slowed a little when she thought of that. Plus, there are so many big things in this house that she can't possibly just take them without anyone noticing...

She perked up as she heard the doorbell ringing. Who was at the door? She hoped that it was Tifa, just coming to check up on her... and then she could go on to tell her how much she wanted to leave and then they could go live in her apartment happily ever after and then everything in her life would finally go right for once...

She made herself snap out of her thoughts, and lunged toward the door. Aparently, she was the only one who noticed the doorbell ringing, because no one else was in sight. Maybe this was the bad thing about living in a gigantic house with everyone concentrating on their music.

She swiftly opened the door, only to reveal...

...someone who was not Tifa. But hey, he was a nice alternative... with spike brown hair and blue eyes. He smiled at her and she thought that she would melt onto the floor.

"Hey. I'm so glad that someone actually answered the door when I came... half of the time I have to call to get everyone's attention..." he stopped when he saw her smile. She was adorable. "Will you let me in?"

Kairi blushed. He noticed that she was staring at him! "Oh... yeah." She moved aside and let him come in. He was carrying a nice large pile of music books, but dropped one. Kairi noticed it had a piano on it, and picked it up. "H-here." She shakily handed it to him.

"Hey, thanks. Are you Wakka's sister by any chance? Because I don't remember you..." he murmured something else under his breath.

"Y-yeah. His... um... new sister."

"Oh yeah! He told me that his mother wanted to adopt another girl... I'm Sora, by the way."

Sora. Sora. Sora. She wanted his named to stay with her forever. "I-I'm Kairi..." Could he feel the speed of her heart? After all, she was only about six inches away from him...

"Do you know where Wakka is?"

"I-in his room, I think..."

"'Kay. Thanks, Kairi... maybe I'll see you again at one of our Blitzball games?"

"I-I guess..." She smiled as he walked up the stairs, and then pinched herself to make sure that this was real. She could definately feel it, and then giggled as she ran up the stairs to maybe eavesdrop on their conversation.

She couldn't remember which room was Wakka's, especially with all of the doors closed. So, she came up with a method to stick her ear to each door that she passed, and praying that no one would suddenly open the door.

She found the one with two male voices, and she recognized Wakka's accent and Sora's voice. He had such a dreamy voice... she smiled to herself, and continued to listen.

"I have to say, Wakka... your new sister is..."

Kairi felt her heart beat quicker and she pressed harder against the door. What was he going to say?

"... hot. Actually, adorable is more like it, but who cares?"

"Sora, why are you hitting on my sister?"

"I'm not HITTING on her... I just think she's cute..."

"Sure. Sure. Just keep on telling yourself that. Let me tell you this much. She's a brat."

"You've barely seen her longer than I have..."

"Just take my word for it, man. Can we change the subject now?"

"Yeah..."

Kairi walked into her room, done with the eavesdropping. She flopped onto her bed, not sure what to think. She loved how Sora thought that she was cute... but what did she do to make Wakka mad? After all, she didn't want him to hurt her... he was so much bigger than her, and could so easily hurt her... she moaned into her pillow. What was she supposed to do now?

End notes: Yes, Kairi is a brat. I made her one... at least for the moment. heh.


	4. The Definition of Talk

A/N: ha. ha. ha. It's been a while, my friends.

Disclaimer: Don't own.

Chapter 4: The Definition of Talk

So many thoughts had overtaken Kairi's mind that she fell asleep on the bed, although her dreams were as hectic as her reality. In her dreams, she saw that no one was with her, that she was alone- completely alone...

Except there were two people there in the darkness of her surroundings. Those two "siblings" of hers, as Aerith had called them. They were there with her... and they had made her nightmare worse. She tried to run to them for help, asking where Tifa and Aerith were.

She was surprised at her words. Why did she ask for Aerith if she was the owner of the home that was the last place she wanted to be?

"...They're gone. And you're coming with us." Wakka grabbed both of her arms and held them behind her back.

"Wh-why?" Kairi whimpered.

"You have something we want." Maria smirked, speaking in a heavy Mexican accent.

"Wh-what?"

Neither of her antagonists spoke. Maria's eyes were glued to her pocket. What did I put there? Kairi wondered. She then looked down herself, and saw the lump was in the shape of the harp that she loved so much.

Maria's hand reached down into her pocket, and grabbed the harp. She held it away from her, taunting her, and then throwing it as far as she could into the darkness. Kairi was holding back tears, and trying to fight away Wakka.

"GIVE ME IT BACK!" She screamed as she let the tears fall.

"Kairi?" Maria's voice suddenly went soft. She felt someone shaking her shoulder.

Her eyes then flew open, only to see Maria, squatting down next to her bed. "Tienes pesadilla?" She asked.

Kairi just gave her a blank stare.

"You have nightmare?" Maria comfortingly asked, in broken English and a heavy accent.

Kairi gave a tiny nod, still intimidated by her Mexican demeanor.

"You want Aerith?" Maria didn't know what else to do with a crying girl.

Kairi, unable to speak, nodded again. Maria then left and Kairi let out a sigh of relief. She got up and walked to her closet, looking for her harp. It wasn't there. Had her nightmare come true? Maria WAS in the room when she woke up crying... maybe it didn't happen the way it did in her dream, but perhaps it truely did happen...

She heard footsteps coming up towards her room, so Kairi sat back down on her bed. The door cracked open, and Aerith crept in. Kairi wasn't sure why Aerith was being so quiet about this, but she continued to wait for Aerith to sit down in her desk chair.

"So, what's wrong? You haven't seemed to comfortable since Maria and Wakka came home." Aerith's usual smile was no longer on her face.

Kairi took a deep breath. "It's because... because..." more tears came to Kairi's eyes and flowed down her face. She couldn't find the words to explain how she was feeling.

"Don't worry about anyone overhearing. They're all practicing in their rooms."

"Because Wakka's black and black people are really mean and they push you around and beat you up and Maria's Mexican and Mexicans steal everything if you leave them unattended and I'm really worried that I'm gonna get beat up again and Maria's going to steal my harp or and that they're going to team up and do it together and I just had a nightmare about that happening and I don't want it to happen and I'm scared!" Kairi's face was now red and sticky from her tears.

Aerith wasn't sure what to say. She knew her children better than anyone, and she was slightly- no, VERY ashamed of what Kairi was thinking, and how she was stereotyping Maria and Wakka because of their race. Perhaps Wakka was right about the girl- but for now, she'd allow her another chance- that's the way their family was. She sat down next to Kairi and put her hand on her shoulder, despite feeling the girl tense up from her touch.

"Kairi... please stop crying. Don't worry about Wakka and Maria. Wakka's never beaten anyone, and I know that Maria hasn't stolen anything from us or anyone else. So don't worry about those things."

Those words slightly calmed Kairi. She still told herself to be wary, but tears stopped flowing out of her eyes.

"Oh, and just to let you know... Tifa's coming for dinner tonight." Aerith grinned.

Kairi couldn't help but smile.

-

Aerith carefully examined each other family members, from eldest to youngest.

"Cloud, your tie is too loose, tighten it or I'll do it for you." Cloud groaned and then did so, making a gagging sound and also making everyone, including Kairi, laugh.

"Where's Squall?"

"He had a gig tonight, didn't you remember, Aerith?" Her husband retorted. "Besides, I don't see why he had to come... he's twenty-one and completely grown!"

"Well, guess what, he's still living under this roof, so therefore, he should still be attending our dinners with our friends!" Aerith's nose was right against Cloud's. She then stood up straight once again to examine the other family members.

"Maria," she looked at her eldest daughter and smiled. "Buena." Her smile soon faded as she saw that Yuffie was standing next to Maria. "WHERE'S WAKKA?" The family held their ears from Aerith's loud scream.

"He's at Sora's, practicing Blitzball. They don't want to lose another game." Cloud sighed.

"ARGH!" Aerith threw her hands up in the air. "Why don't I just cancel the dinner, since no one is here?"

"Are you saying that your 'dinner' is more important than your family?" Cloud also seemed upset.

"NO!" Aerith got defensive, but then decided to fight back. "Why did you let him go, anyway?"

"They have another game tommorow, Aerith."

"But what about my dinner?" She scowled.

"It'll be okay..." Cloud took the chance to put his arm around his wife.

Aerith squirmed in his embrace. "This is why I prefer to raise girls... they're all here," she grumbled to herself.

"Oh, stop being so fussy." He kissed her.

"AWWWW..." Selphie squealed.

Kairi took the chance to sit down on the floor, bored out of her mind. When was Tifa going to get here? She already had a plan for the night- to slip away as soon as Tifa went to the bathroom. Then, she'd talk to her and then convince her that this home was, most definately, not right for her. And after that, Tifa and her would go home together and then they could live happily ever after.

"Kairi, stand up." Yuffie whispered to her.

Too bad not everything was going to be that simple. When was everyone going to get here? Aerith was now taking the chance to place everyone in the living room with decent space in between them so that everyone would be together, but they would be sitting next to someone not in the family- with the exeption of her and Cloud, of course.

Aerith then gave everyone a review on ettiquette, and then finally took a long breath and sat down next to Cloud, right before the bell rang. She then spazzistically and up to and opened the door to greet Tifa.

Kairi sat on her hands, to keep herself from jumping up in anxiety. Tonight would be the night she left this hell.

The doorbell rang again, to reveal a sweaty Wakka and Sora. Wakka came in with a silly grin while Aerith carried a look on disgust on her face, shooing him up to his room to get dressed. She then smiled- or was it a smirk?- and invited Sora to dinner.

Sora had a confused look on his face, but was then pushed by Aerith into the living room, almost begging for him to have a seat. When he didn't, and took a look around the room, Aerith gently pushed him down to sit in the spot closest to where he was standing- next to Kairi.

Kairi stopped sitting on her hands then. She nervously smiled and placed her now sweaty hands into her lap, where Aerith said they should be.

"Hey," he smiled at Kairi, realizing that it was her he was sitting next to.

"H-hi." Kairi looked at him, and she wondered if it was possible that he could have grown cuter during the day. His hair was now as messy as ever, but his eyes seemed to be twinkling at her...

"Hi, Kairi!" She looked up in alarm from the woman's voice. It was Tifa's. "How are you doing here?"

She wasn't sure what to say. She would, most definately, not say the truth right in front of Aerith and Cloud and the rest of the family that could overhear what she was saying, but would it really be that hard to lie?

Her lips pressed into a smiled. "I'm doing good."

"That's great!" Tifa grinned, not noticing how much her smile was forced. Tifa sat down next to Cloud and Aerith to talk.

"Who's she?" Sora asked her.

Kairi froze. He was talking to her... as in, not just greeting or saying hi... "Sh-she's my social worker." She stuttered out.

"That's cool." He wasn't sure what to do now- but there was one thing that he couldn't deny- there was something special about Wakka's new sister. He let his hand brush accross hers. Maybe then he'd get a signal about how she felt.

Kairi felt his hand against hers for the slightest moment, and then felt her face go pink. She shyly looked at him, and only felt her face go warmer as he smiled at her.

"Okay, everyone, let's go have a seat at the table, now that Wakka's dressed for the occasion."

Kairi looked up, to see Wakka in a dress shirt and tie along with slacks. She turned her head to look at Sora, and then noticed how he seemed to be out of place- everyone else was wearing clothes at least somewhat dressy. She couldn't help but giggle.

Wakka had come over to where Sora and Kairi were, and greeted them both. Kairi took a small sidestep away from the two, or rather, just to keep a distance between her and Wakka.

"Hey, don't walk away from me," Sora said to Kairi. She looked at him again before she giggled. "What's so funny?" Sora asked out of curiousity.

Kairi shook her head while laughing, and then walked to the dinning room with the rest of the guests and family, leaving Wakka and Sora behind.

"Why are you here?" Wakka asked Sora, as soon as Kairi left the room.

Sora was still staring at where Kairi was before, then looked back at Wakka. "I'm not really sure. Aerith pretty much dragged me into the living room."

"Oh, really?" Wakka raised an accusing eyebrow at Sora. "Or were you here so you could stare at my sister?"

"Maybe that, too. Why does it matter to you?"

"Because she's only thirteen!"

"For someone who says she's a brat, you seem pretty protective."

"Look, Sora, I don't want her to be another one of those people in that... that group of girls that you and the rest of the team have fun using on and off." 

Sora sighed. Maybe he shouldn't do that to Kairi... after all, she seemed to have been through a lot... but she...

"C'mon, let's go to dinner." Wakka cut off his thoughts.

-

"Aerith, I'm going to go to the bathroom for a moment, okay?" Tifa excused herself from the table.

Once Tifa was out of sight, Kairi also excused herself, went to the hallway by the bathroom and waited for Tifa outside the door.

She heard the toilet flush, and the sink running. Once the sound stopped, Tifa opened the door in surprise. "Hi, Kairi!"

"Tifa... can I talk to you?"

"Sure."

"I," Kairi stoped to think, "really don't want to stay here."

"So what's happened that's been so bad?"

"Everything..." Kairi felt tears come to her eyes, then let her feelings run loose. "What ever made you think that I'd be able to even slightly belong here? Everyone else is so perfect... in their perfect world with perfect music with a perfect family with perfect people in their perfect house..."

"Oh, Kairi." Tifa comfortingly patted her head. "I'm sure that you're just a little upset. It'll get better. Besides, it's only been a few days. I know that they didn't treat you that bad."

"But they did!"

Tifa chuckled. "You're being silly. I know Cloud and Aerith. They're wonderful people. No worries, Kairi, okay?" She smiled, and then left. Tifa was oblivious to the obvious tears floating in Kairi's eyes.

Kairi then let the tears in her eyes fall, and then slowly brought herself down into a sitting position. There was no use in holding them back, especially since there was no one around. Her face soon became sticky, and the velvet dress that Yuffie lent her was soon dotted with teardrops. She would let out a hiccup every few seconds of so, and then continued to sob as she hugged her legs in front of her.

At the dinner table, Sora had wondered what was taking Kairi so long. He excused himself to go find her. Although Wakka's accusations still rang through his head, he wasn't going to let those words stop him from finding her.

He walked toward the bathroom, in the direction that Kairi seemed to have gone. As he walked a little further, he could hear sobs and hiccuping. He saw her crying in front of the bathroom door.

Kairi heard someone's footsteps, and then attempted to collect herself and stop sobbing. It didn't help- the tears now came involuntarily, with hiccups in between. The tears blurred her vision, and she wasn't sure who he or she was until the person spoke.

"Are you okay?" She saw the figure bend down next to her. When he came closer, she confirmed her suspicions on who the person was. There was no doubt that it was Sora.

She tried to hide her tears, but her concious told her that there was no use. He had already heard her sobbing down the hall. She didn't answer him, but the condition she was in made it obvious whether she was okay or not.

Sora was completely unsure of what to do. He was never able to confort crying girls, especially ones that he had feelings for. He thought back to the internet chain letters that all of the girls he knew would send him (LOL), and then decided that the only thing that he really could do was hug her.

And so he did. Surprisingly, Kairi let him hold her while she continued to cry into his shoulder.

"It'll be okay..." When her tears flowed faster, he pulled her a little bit closer, and hugged her a little bit tighter. 

-

End notes: Awh. I'm happy with this chapter.

So... you should make me happier. REVIEW! 


	5. The Definition of Guilt

A/N: w00t... chapter 5!

I think I was going to say something but I forgot...

Disclaimer: No tengo Kingdom Hearts... okay that's actually I don't have Kingdom Hearts... but I still don't own it!

Chapter 5: The Definition of Guilt

Kairi smiled as she felt the sunlight hit her that next morning. She snuggled a little bit more into the white comforter, not wanting to get up.

Last night still seemed like a dream to her. She was still upset with Tifa emotionally pushing her out, and was even more upset by the fact that Tifa might have just been leading her on when she made the "promise." But there was one thing that she still couldn't believe.

She still couldn't believe that Sora had come to her when she was crying, and she still couldn't believe that the way that he held her was real, and not a dream. After wearily crying for about five more minutes, she had felt herself nod off onto his shoulder, but was later awakened when he picked her up to carry her to her room. She didn't let him know that, though, because she wanted to enjoy the fact that he was carrying her like a princess to her room. And then, after he set her down on her bed and left, she fell back asleep again.

She stretched out her arms and yawned. I wonder what happened after I left last night... she asked herself. Getting up off the bed, she walked over to her desk to see a paper written out in what was obviously a guy's handwriting.

"Kairi," she read aloud to herself. "I hope you're feeling okay after last night. After you went to sleep, I went back to the table and told them that you weren't feeling well, so don't be surprised if your family is asking you about it today. Cheer up soon, okay?" Sora had signed his name at the bottom of the letter. After the signature, she read off, "P.S. I knew that you were awake when I carried you upstairs." Kairi blushed at the last statement.

She knew that she would have to tuck this letter somewhere safe... the same place where she would keep her harp, if it ever turned up. She looked through her closet again, and then remembered that she had stuffed it under her mattress the day before. Embarassed, she stuck her hand under the mattress and felt around for it. She found it.

"Now I have to put this with it..." She carefully folded up the paper, and put the harp in between one of the folds. She then stuck it back underneath the matress in the same place. If someone had found it... there would be to words to describe the embarassment she'd face.

"Kairi, honey?" Aerith knocked on her door. Kairi jumped a little in shock, then opened the door to let her in.

"Hi, Aerith." Kairi smiled.

"I assume you're feeling better today? Because I forgot to tell you yesterday... I scheduled a meeting with the harp teacher for today." The woman nervously laughed.

Kairi's smile grew a little bit wider. "I'm feeling a lot better." She jumped a little from the sudden jolt of excitement that she felt.

Aerith chuckled. "Okay, then. I guess I'll be seeing you at breakfast, then."

As soon as Aerith left the room, a wave of guilt washed over Kairi. How could she have been thinking that this home would be hell... if Aerith was helping her go after her dreams- the ones that everyone else pretty much laughed at? She then moodily dressed, and walked downstairs to see the whole family sitting around the breakfast table. Cloud and Aerith were both buried in the same newspaper, Yuffie and Selphie were arguing, Wakka was on the phone, Squall was looking over a planner he had in front of him, and Maria was eating some cereal. The Mexican girl turned her head to see Kairi, smiled, and patted the spot next to her on the bench.

"Good morning," she greeted in her Spanish accent.

"Good morning." Kairi replied. Now, Maria honestly didn't seem as bad as the Mexicans that she had seen before at school. She was very quiet, and seemed to keep to herself. She saw that Kairi didn't have anything to eat yet, and passed to her the gallon of milk and the cereal box, then getting up to get her a bowl.

"Here," she handed it to Kairi.

Kairi was dumbfounded by Maria's kindness towards her. Another wave of guilt soon washed over her as she poured her own cereal and milk. She looked over at her new older sister, and sighed. How could she have been so wrong?

Her attention shifted to Wakka as he hung up the phone and got up from the table. "Where do you think you're going?" Aerith's previously sweet demeanor suddenly turned hard. Why does it seem like she was always hard on Wakka? Kairi wondered to herself.

"Blitzball practice."

"You better not be fooling around with those girls that I've been hearing about."

He rolled his eyes, wanting to ask where she heard the rumor from. "Okay, Aerith." He shuffled towards the door with his bag of equipment slung over his shoulder.

"Hey, don't you need a ride?" Squall suddenly spoke, ready to get up from the table to grab his keys.

"No, thank you. I'm not a little kid anymore." Wakka sourly pushed open the door and left.

"What's his problem?" Selphie turned to Aerith to ask.

Aerith shrugged her shoulders, although she knew perfectly well what the problem was. Wakka had always gotten the most attention in the family, being the troubling child with his tutors. Even while Yuffie and Selphie were growing up, some of their attention was taken by Wakka. Thankfully, once he joined the community wind ensamble and his traveling blitzball team, many of the problems ceased, but it was obvious from his current anger that he could, once again, start up those problems.

But now, Kairi had gotten all of the attention- because she was the new girl, and because she also seemed to have her fair share of problems to work out, more than Wakka had. 

Cloud cut off Aerith's thoughts. "You guys need to get to work... your tutors should be getting here soon."

Kairi looked at Aerith in confusion. Aerith stood up and lead her out of the room, to tell her a little bit about their "schooling."

"I'm sorry that I forgot to tell you before, but all of the kids are homeschooled... we think that it's better for them to get in tact with their music this way, and not be distracted by everything in school. You'll have Yuffie and Selphie's tutor, since they're around your age." She smiled. "But your harp teacher should be coming first, so you'll be having your lesson soon. Here, I want to give you something." Aerith led her up into the master bedroom, and picked up the harp that was once against their wall.

"I've been hoping for one of my children to be able to play this... because my mother cherrished this harp more than anything in the world. I'm going go help you set it up in your room."

Kairi's face was now filled with a bright smile, and followed Aerith with a skip in her step, who was carrying her harp, into the "studio" section of her room. The harp was beautiful, and she couldn't take her eyes off of it.

She sat down in the chair that Aerith also brought into the room, and held continued to stare in awe at the harp. She was staring so long that she didn't break her gaze until Aerith brought her new teacher in.

She had a big, warm, friendly smile, and stuck out her hand for Kairi to shake.

-

"WATER FIGHT!" Tidus let out a scream. Practice was over, and after ever practice, there was a water fight. No one really knew why- it was just tradition with their team, and every new member usually figured it out by the end of the second practice.

There were always a group of girls in the stands, watching the practice, and right around the end of the practice they would change into their own bathing suits.

Their water fight was always the same- the girls would be hoisted onto the shoulders of the guys on the team, and they would attempt to knock over the other people. Last one standing was the winner.

Before, Wakka had always left the pool right after practice. None of the girls interested him, and he thought that the whole fight was a pointless waste of energy. But today, he was feeling rebellious against Aerith's words, and stayed.

"SORA!" A hyper blonde girl jumped onto his shoulders, nearly scaring him out of his skin. His whole team laughed at his reaction, seeing that the girl, Marissa, had done this to him ever since the day that Sora had joined the team.

The fight had started, then. Everyone had their usual partners, except for Wakka, but that wasn't a problem since a girl had practically hung onto him from the end of practice.

"Sora, go faster! We're going to lose!" Marissa giggled as Sora continued to rampage toward Tidus. Tidus had won almost every single water fight since the beginning of the season, and everyone had made a mental note to beat Tidus after every practice.

As he continued to chase after Tidus, Sora felt something pang him straight in the heart. This game... with Marissa... no longer felt right to him. His mind was now only on one girl- the one that he had embraced the night before. He didn't know how it happened- he had almost declared his love to Marissa before, so why was he having such a sudden change in heart?

"AH!" Marissa fell off of Sora's shoulders, with him swiftly catching her as soon as she did. She clung tightly to him. "Sora," she breathed into his ear and giggled. "We lost but I still love you."

After a few minutes, he soon felt disgust with himself with holding onto Marissa for so long. "Hey, 'rissa..." He spoked to her with his nickname for her. The name used to be special to him, and if anyone else called Marissa by that, they'd get a punch in the face. "I really have to go." He shrugged her off.

"Sora..." she helplessly held out her arms for him to come back. "Where are you going?" She looked at him with big, sad eyes.

"I have to be home by twelve. Mom's got some... lunch thing planned."

"Oh." She looked down. "Alright, then." 

He sighed as he watched her by herself at the edge of the pool as he left. What had gotten into him? His feelings for Kairi weren't that great... he moaned to himself in guilt, and walked over to his car. He had promised Wakka a ride home, so he'd have to wait until he was done.

Maybe he should come back down to earth. He unlocked his car, and sat in the drivers seat for a while. Maybe his feelings for Kairi would soon disappear. Of course, he'd chosen girls over Marissa before, but he'd always, always come back to her after a Blitzball practice in guilt.

But now... why was he feeling guilt towards Kairi? He moaned to himself, and closed his eyes, only to see a flashback of what had happened the night before. Where did he get the hint to do that? And why did he follow that hint? And why, oh why... was he wishing that he was carrying Kairi on his shoulders instead of Marissa?

"Hey, man, why are you still here?" He turned to see Wakka. "Marissa said you had to leave for some luncheon that your mom planned."

Sora shrugged his shoulders. "Get in."

-

"Now, Kairi, here's your practicing schedule." Aerith handed Kairi a small booklet. "I want you to write in how many minutes you've practiced each day. I expect at a total of at least 140 minutes per week, for you."

Kairi let out a groan. Aerith, who obviously heard it, said, "I'm paying fourty dollars an hour for your lessons, Kairi. You better be grateful."

Why was everyone using guilt as a manipulative? Kairi grudgingly looked up at Aerith, and mummbled, "Okay."

Aerith walked towards the door, then beckoned for Kairi to follow. "You still have another subject before lunch."

This time, Kairi groaned in her mind, inaudible to Aerith.

-

"Wakka, stop." His teacher firmly spoke. "You're not playing the way that you usually do today. What's on your mind?"

"Everything." He put down his trumpet and groaned.

His teacher looked at him and frowned, thinking of what to do. "Wakka... how old are you now?"

"Fifteen." He rolled his eyes at his teacher's forgetfulness.

"Then... you must be able to understand how to play music from your heart." The teacher knew that the time was right- it was the whole point of Aerith and Cloud's music obsessions. Their goal was for all of their kids and students to be able to play from their hearts- no matter what level they played, what kind of music was played, or what instrument they played.

Wakka looked at the teacher, dumbfounded. "What do you want me to do?"

"I think it'll be easier to explain this way." The teacher took his music off the stand. "Now, play anything. Whatever comes to your mind."

He was getting extremely upset now, so upset that he just blew straight into his trumpet. He expected a lecture from his teacher then, but all he saw when he looked at his teacher was almost a smile.

"That's what I mean."

"What do you mean by that?" Wakka was actually angry by his teacher's lack of displeasement.

"You're obviously upset, so you better let it out with music."

Wakka frowned to himself. Ever since Kairi had come along into the family, he had stopped being the one with all of the attention focused on. But now, was his teacher telling him that his music would focus on him and no one else? After all, he was the only bassoon and trumpet player in his family... and he was the only member in his family in the Wind Ensamble- even Yuffie didn't make it in. He smiled to himself.

"Feeling better?" His teacher saw him smile.

"Yeah."

-

X3 Wakka's such an attention whore.

REVIEW! 


	6. The Definition of Perfection

A/N: Wow, the hiatus & wait is finally over, & I've finally gotten off my lazy butt to write this. I'm really glad that most of you enjoyed The Music In Our Hearts, & I hope that you guys enjoy the rest of this also. .

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. I do, however, own Kairi's harp teacher (XD) & Maria. That's it, really. XD

Chapter 6: The Definition of Perfection

"No, no, no, Kairi. You're holding your hands the wrong way." Her teacher sighed, and walked over to Kairi to adjust her hands.

Kairi also sighed as her teacher pried her hands into place. This wasn't working- if her mind wanted to do it one way, her hands would do it the opposite, and her harp teacher wasn't exactly a cheery and happy care bear at eight in the morning. She stressfully attempted to continue to hold her hands in the stiff, awkward position as she plucked the strings of the harp.

"Do it again." The teacher continued to press Kairi's patience with her instrument. She inaudibly sighed and groaned, but did as the teacher asked. Aerith had claimed that she was "the best harp teacher in the area that was free," but the only thing that Kairi saw in her was a pain in the butt. Everything in her teacher's world had to be perfect, with perfect notes, perfect posture, perfect everything else that Kairi didn't know of as a beginner harpist. She had only been playing for a week, after all.

"No, Kairi." Her teacher bent over to pick up her own harp. "I'm going to show you how it's done properly." She then played the simple line of music, noticing halfway through that Kairi wasn't paying attention, almost drifting back off into her dream world. It was only because she had been dragged out of bed, once again, as soon as her teacher had arrived.

"KAIRI!" Her teacher shouted. "Sit UP, and I know that you weren't paying attention to how I was playing the line. I'm going to play for you one more time, and you better be watching."

Kairi bolted up into her proper posture, watching her teacher's hand posture and making small notes of it in her mind. Her teacher's hands were in that stiff position, but also seemed relaxed at the same time. How does she do it? Kairi wondered to herself. She then frowned, suddenly feeling extremely low and depressed.

"Okay, Kairi. Try again." At her teacher's command, she put her hands up to the strings of the harp, and played the line the best that she could.

Her teacher slightly smiled. "You're doing better. You've improved a lot this week; how much have you been practicing?"

Kairi didn't even want to speak of that horror. Aerith, Cloud, and every other family member had almost held a knife to her neck every moment that she _wasn't_ practicing, sleeping, or eating with the family. Okay, maybe it wouldn't have been that dramatic, but from the tone that they were speaking to her in, it seemed as if they would do something of the sort.

"A lot," Kairi answered. She didn't have a numerical measurement, and she didn't really care to.

"That's good, because-" Aerith popped into Kairi's room in the middle of her teacher's sentence. "Hi, Aerith," the teacher greeted. "I was just talking to Kairi about something; I thought that you should hear, also." She paused for a moment. "You know that community orchestra... the one that your sisters are in? There's an open spot for harp, because there aren't a lot of harpists around here, and I doubt if there will be more than another person auditioning. The auditions are going to be in a few weeks... are you up to doing it, Kairi?"

Kairi looked at her teacher as if she just told her that aliens did, indeed, exist. How did she expect her to be able to audition within a mere few weeks? After all, she'd only have less than one month's worth of experience!

"Of course. Kairi would love that, right?" Aerith looked at her as she answered for her. Kairi nodded out of intimidation. Otherwise, she would have never agreed to such a plan.

"That's great, Kairi!" Her teacher's mouth was formed into a wide, toothy grin. "I'm going to bring you the registration form next week, and even though the due date's past for the form, they'll accept it from you, because you're Aerith's daughter. Plus, they've even told me that they were in dire need of a harpist, so I'm sure that you're going to make it- all of my students have on their auditions. It's just a pity that none of my other ones were willing to audition for this one."

Kairi sat there with her harp, silent.

"Well, I'll be going. Bye, Aerith! Bye, Kairi!" Her harp was packed up quickly as Kairi and Aerith simultaneously said, "Goodbye!"

Aerith turned to Kairi. "How was it?" She asked, meaning the lesson.

"It was... pretty good." Kairi lied.

"That's good. You're should be practicing a lot more, since you're going to be auditioning for the orchestra so soon. I'm sure that you'll make it!" Aerith smiled, and then left the room.

Kairi sighed in relief as she was alone in her room once again. There was just something about this family that bugged her- how everyone was so completely perfect. In the next room over, she could hear Selphie's violin, practicing steadily with no stops longer than one minute. And to Kairi's ears, her music seemed completely flawless. She hurriedly packed up her harp, knowing that she needed to be going to her next tutor soon.

This home schooling still struck Kairi odd, although she had been going through it for a little over a week now. She always felt completely cooped up, although she physically wasn't. The family had a gigantic backyard, half forest and half grassland, only because the family refused to chop down the trees.

Kairi missed leaving the home the way that she did before- although she never had any friends that had invited her over, she had always left the house a few times a week, running errands with her foster parents, grocery shopping with them, or something to that effect. She hadn't ever spent this long of a period inside a home before, although it was a gigantic home that anyone could easily get lost in. How did the family get used to it without going crazy?

As Kairi wandered down the hallway, waiting for her tutor, she heard a deeper, lower sound of a stringed instrument. It happened to be Maria and her cello. After hearing a few of her perfect notes, Kairi huffed in frustration. Why did the family have to live up to such standards? Couldn't they be normal people?

-

The doorbell rang, but most of the family ignored it. The only people who rang their doorbell were the new students or friends. And friends didn't come over very often during the day, even less during the family's strictly planned lunch time. If the students had been with the family long enough for lessons, then they would know that they were allowed to waltz right into their home.

"I'll get that; it's probably Sora." Aerith stood up from her seat at the table. "He said he'd be coming around now for his first lesson."

Kairi's ears perked up at his name. She had to stop herself from squealing in excitement. She couldn't wait to be listening to Sora play the piano for an hour... even though she would be with her tutor, and even though he wouldn't know that she was listening.

She heard the door open, and heard Aerith greet Sora. Maybe, since she was done with her lunch and she had a good ten minutes before she was due to her next tutor, she could take a peek at him. She casually waltzed over to where the grand piano was in the living room, only to see Sora sitting on the piano bench while Aerith was off to get something.

"Hey, Kairi." He smiled at her.

She felt herself melt from that smile. Why did he always do this to her? Of course, she welcomed it, but it also triggered her insecurities...

"Okay, Sora, let's get started." Aerith paced back into the room as few seconds later. "Kairi, you should go start with your tutor early- I don't think he's feeling too well today, so I don't want to ask him to stay much longer."

Kairi let out a small sigh as she walked up the stairs. That was just Aerith's way of shooing her and the rest of the family off when she was busy with a student or anything else.

She walked back into the study section of her room, to be greeted by her Math tutor. As soon as he started to speak to her about what they were to do that day, she felt her mind drifting off, and her ears not listening to what her teacher said, but to Sora's music.

Downstairs, Sora grinned with confidence. He was so glad that Aerith was willing to take him in, especially since his last teacher had told him that he had to drop Sora as a student because "he had surpassed his teacher." Although his words were quite flattering, Sora was fairly sure that he just wanted to drop him for a new student. That's just the way that his teacher was- once he got sick of a student, he'd just find a replacement and use a few flattering words to get rid of him or her.

"Alright, Sora... did you have anything that you wanted to play for me?" Aerith smiled to herself. She knew that Wakka was a fairly good judge of who was good with music, despite her claim that she would like to "see for herself."

"Yeah," he said, as he flipped through his very thick book of Mozart sonatas. He smirked to himself when he had reached the one that he wanted.

"Mozart..." Aerith murmured to herself, and slightly shook her head. She watched as Sora put his hands on the pearly white piano keys and started to play.

From his first note, Aerith could see that there was no doubt that Sora was, indeed, an extraordinary pianist. Even with that thought in mind, Aerith continued to watch him as he played. There seemed to be a very odd aura around him when he played... and aura that Aerith despised whenever she saw it.

His fingers continued to fly through the piece as Aerith turned the page for him. She was impressed by the speed of his fingers, his dynamics, and several other technical aspects of his piano playing. But there was something wrong.

She really couldn't take it anymore. "Stop," she commanded for him. He did stop at once, and brought his fingers off the keys.

"Sora..." Aerith shook her head. "I'm sorry, but there's something wrong with your playing... something really wrong that I find in a lot of pianists."

The expression on his face resembled one of a man who had been wrongly accused of a murder. "Wh-what did I do wrong?"

"You have absolutely no emotion in your music. I don't care how good your technique is, although it's obviously surpassed many people. Let's just say... you play like a robot." A frown formed on Aerith's usual cheery face.

Sora had the urge to scoff at Aerith's words. What was she saying, he had no emotion? Why was she saying that? She didn't know how he was feeling inside- so why was she accusing him of not being able to feel?

Silence came between the two, before Sora spoke. "I'm sorry that you feel that way, Aerith. But I think that the emotion in my music is just fine- it might not be perfect, but nothing on this world is." His words were extremely blunt.

Aerith was fuming. She would have to control her temper around him, but she was already feeling herself being pushed over the edge. Why did he speak back to her? She knew that music wasn't perfect- music resembled emotions in people's hearts, and no person's heart could ever be perfect- so why did he act as if she was accusing him of not being perfect?

She didn't know of any other way to explain it to him. "Let's start from the beginning, Sora."

She thanked God that he agreed so easily.

-

A deep frown on Kairi's face formed as she listened to the fast music of the piano downstairs. HE would have to be perfect, too, just like the rest of them. She should have known. Down in the room next to her, Selphie was still practicing, with perfect notes. She hadn't even stopped for lunch, much to Aerith's pleasure.

She looked down at the linear equations in front of her. She didn't want to graph them- she'd rather be listening to Sora's music, which was what she was doing. But she honestly couldn't bear to be next to him if he was just like the rest of them.

Huffing in frustration, she picked up the ruler. She'd pick graphing over listening to perfection any time of day.

-

Kairi took a deep breath as she walked into the warm-up room before her audition. She'd already signed in, and had noticed that there was already one other harpist auditioning. Immediately, she the little confidence that she had began to sink even lower. She barely even knew the solo that she was required to play, much less her scales (1), and she was no where near being ready for the sight-reading.

Her teacher had pushed her over the limit these past weeks, coming twice a week to check up on how she was doing with her solo. Kairi honestly had no idea what she was playing, and had no idea if her hand posture that her teacher always ragged about was correct. She was shaking with anxiety as she played a little to warm up, staring into the back of the other harpist's head. Her teacher said that there would only be one other harpist, max. But when another one entered through the door, Kairi sighed in frustration and nervousness.

"Kairi Strife?" An old man with a clipboard called for her. She nervously looked at him, and then "properly" dragged her harp and her sheet of music to the chair that she was directed to.

"The auditioner should be coming out to get you soon." He left her in the chair, allowing her to slump and groan.

"I'm not going to make it, I know I'm not..." she murmured to herself. Her harp teacher was wrong about the amount of auditioners, so it was obviously not going to be an easy victory for either of them. Not that Kairi even really cared- she was just in fear of Aerith's wrath.

"Next," A short little lady popped out of the room, looking at Kairi. She held the door open for her as Kairi wobbled in with her harp and settled in the chair after pulling the stand down to her sitting height.

The lady who opened the door for her happened to be her auditioner. She asked Kairi for a few scales, and let her play her solo. Kairi rushed horribly through it all, and once it was time for sight reading, Kairi just gawked at the music in front of her. She couldn't make out the rhythm, and could barely make out the notes. After a few minutes, she just put her hands up to her harp strings and tried her best.

As soon as she was done with her audition, she met Aerith in the hallway. "How did it go?" she asked, curious.

Kairi wasn't sure to tell the complete truth or just to lie. She did a little bit of both. "It was okay." She mumbled.

"That's good," Aerith smiled, knowing that her children always said that they did "okay" at their auditions- and it just so happened that they almost always made it in. She watched Kairi slowly and carefully pack up her harp, after she set her sheet of music on the stand. "Let's go, Kairi." She motioned for Kairi to hurry up.

As Kairi half-walked, half-limped with her harp to the car, she wondered, Am I the only one in the family who isn't perfect? And what's going to become of me when they find out that I'm not?

-

(1) I honestly don't know if they ask harpists for scales at auditions. I'm assuming that they do, since the only instrument that I know of that they don't ask scales of is percussion, but since I don't know a harpist personally, I can't say that it's completely correct.

Anyway, I think you should review. & make me happy. :D


	7. The Definition of Tension

A/N: Ahahaah. I finished chapter 7! I DID I DID I DID:D

Wow, I really have to say that this fic is one of the few that has taken a mind of its own. Not many of my fics do that; I mean I do a LOT to keep it in my grasp. XD & now my plans have slightly changed, once again.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. Why must I repeat this?

Chapter 7: The Definition of Tension

Cloud walked into his home, a few weeks after Kairi's audition, carrying a huge stack of mail as he walked in. It was a bi-weekly thing for the family; for Cloud to walk out to their mailbox and carry the huge stack of mail in. Being the large family that they were, they got plenty of mail- it was just their music that got in the way of them checking it.

"This is for Squall, and this for Aerith, and Yuffie, and Squall again..." Cloud mumbled to himself as he sorted through the it, making small piles for each family member that recieved a letter. 

Kairi was nervously peeking over his shoulder. She had done this ever since her audition was over, because she was anxiously waiting for her results. Her harp teacher had constantly pestered her about whether she got in or not.

"Kairi, go practice." Cloud attempted to shoo her away with the wave of his hand and his words. But Kairi wasn't planning on going anywhere until the mail was completely sorted. She could hear Cloud sigh as she continued to hover over him.

"Fine, then. Take this mail up to Aerith, and that to Squall, and that to Yuffie," he handed her three stacks of letters, one for each of the people she was deliverying to. She huffed as she walked up the stairs; Cloud had made her the delivery girl once again. She didn't mind too much, actually, as long as she got what she had wanted in the mail. Too bad that what she wanted hadn't arrived yet.

With a few heavy breaths, she walked up to Squall's room and knocked. She could tell the door was unlocked, but she didn't want to just come barging into the room of someone who was still, even after a month, a complete stranger to her.

Squall's head poked out of his room. "What?" he asked, accusingly. Apparently he had been practicing. See, since the things to do in this home were so limited, Kairi had learned to figure out what each person was doing, depending on their reaction to a knock on the door.

"Here's your mail," Kairi tried to sound friendly, and put the stack into his arms.

Squall looked at the first letter and frowned. "Thanks," he grumbled.

Why was the male half of this family so cold to her? Wakka, apparently, still hated her; Cloud always shrugged her off; Squall always ignored her or pushed her away. She could feel the tension from Squall coming towards her- even though the door was closed, and even though he was pretty far from where she was.

When Kairi walked back into the kitchen, Cloud threw a letter at her. "It's for you, from the community orchestra."

Kairi looked at the letter in amazement. It had finally arrived! She couldn't wait to see what was inside... but she was so nervous to open it. She walked over to the couch in the living room, and then sat down on it.

She was so nervous that she had started to shake, but she finally found the courage to rip open the envelope and read what was written inside. She shook out the trifolded letter, and held it to her.

"Dear Miss Strife," she read. "We're sorry to inform you that you have not made our orchestra." As soon as she reached that sentense, she threw the paper down. Tears were stinging her eyes as she ran up to her room and to her bed for comfort.

She tried to calm herself as she felt wet tears hit her pillow... but it didn't work. She told herself that she had only been playing for two weeks at the time, and that she had already gotten much better. But then, along with the angel there was also the devil on her shoulder. She could just hear him taunting her, telling her that she was the only imperfection of her perfect family.

-

Maria sighed as she put down her cello on its side. She was having severe tuning issues today, and she didn't want to be corrected by her student today. Because she usually only spoke Spanish, she just taught a few Mexican kids in the area. Although she couldn't say that she particuarly liked the kids, teaching actually wasn't so bad- plus it earned her some extra pocket money for whatever she wanted to buy.

She decided to take a short break for the moment, and headed downstairs to get a quick drink of water. When she passed the living room, she saw a paper lying carelessly on the ground. Knowing that Cloud would throw a fit later on, she went to pick it up and to take a look.

Warily, her dark eyes scanned the page in front of her. Although she usually gave the impression that she didn't know English, she could actually read conversational English very well- she just didn't like to speak it because of her thick accent. Her mouth curved into a frown as she read the words.

She looked down in thought when she finished reading it. The letter in front of her had obviously upset her little sister greatly, but she wasn't sure if she should tell her parents the news- although they would find out sooner or later.

Carefully, she folded the paper with the original creases, and put it on the coffee table. Maybe later would be better than sooner, she thought to herself as she walked into the kitchen to accoplish her original intention.

-

"So, Kairi, why don't you tell us the news?" Cloud asked her as the family sat down to dinner.

"Yeah, what happened?" Selphie perked up when she heard the question.

The little appitite that Kairi had was suddenly gone when she heard the question. She fumbled with the food on her plate, pushing it back and forth with her fork. The whole family had stopped eating to hear the answer to the question. Tension filled the air.

Kairi continued to look down, thinking of a way to break the bad news to her perfect family. "I..." she stopped speaking after making the small sound.

"What? What? What?" Selphie's repitition was beginning to annoy Kairi.

"She did not make it." Kairi looked up at the words of her Mexican sister as her family's eyes widened. How did she find out?

She mentally kicked herself for the stupid question. She had carelessly left the paper on the floor of the living room after finding out the results. Anyone could have walked by and looked at it; apparently Maria did so.

She continued to push the food around her plate, silent. She didn't want to speak or make excuses, in fear of being shushed violently. After the short silence, whispering floated around the table instead of the usual "family talk." She heard the words, "shame," "really?" and a couple of other words that let out a signal to her that she was even more unwanted than before.

"May I be excused?" Her small whisper wasn't heard by anyone but Maria, who was sitting next to her as usual.

"Yes, Kairi." Maria answered for the parents. It was the most sisterly thing that she could possibly do at the moment.

Kairi shuffled upstairs to her room in shame. When she reached there, she reached for her harp and mindlessly ran her fingers across it. "We're both failures," shr murmured, speaking to her instrument.

A sudden thought came to her mind. She hadn't looked at her gold harp in weeks- ever since she started to play the real harp. Her harp that was once in her lap was suddenly and carelessly put down to the ground in a small thud. She walked over to her closet, not remembering where she had left it. After shuffling around for about 10 minutes, crawling on her hands and her knees, and searching through the small spaces in her room, she had finally retrieved it. She squeezed it in relief.

"Kairi?" She heard a knock on the door, along with Aerith's voice.

She didn't want to open the it, but when her mind wasn't in control of her body. The handle soon clicked, and Aerith walked in.

"Kairi, I don't know how to say how disappointed I am in you. We all are- because we thought that you would make it." Aerith frowned, and looked directly at Kairi, who was staring at the ground once again.

"I hope you've learned your lesson, Kairi." Those were Aerith's last words before she walked out of the room.

Kairi felt tears sting her eyes. Now, even Aerith was against her! Why didn't they just let her go? But now, who was there to turn to? 

-

"KAIRI! It's time to go to Wakka's blitzball game!" Aerith screamed down the hallway of rooms.

"Coming..." Kairi mummbled, inaudible to Aerith's ears. Why'd she even have to go? She would say that she had homework- except that Aerith would still drag her along, saying that it was "family time."

If the family wasn't so cold to her, she might have actually appreciated this so-called "family time." But, unfortunately, during every single "family" event, Kairi had been the loner while everyone else socialized. So, to Kairi, it was "family-for-everyone-else-while-Kairi-sulks-at-the-side" time.

She slightly limped out the room, walking as slowly as possible, and hoping that the family had left. Her wish was in vain, beacuse about two seconds later, Aerith walked over.

"There you are!" She exclaimed. "LET'S GO!" She yelled for the whole family to get into the car.

Kairi, surprisingly, was relieved to finally have left the house. She didn't even travel to her teachers the way that Yuffie and Selphie did, so it was nice to actually see the outdoors for once.

As the family drove down the street in their crowded van, she peeked out the window at the green trees and grass. It was a nice time of year, she realized. Soon enough, they had reached the Blitzball stadium where the game was to be held.

Kairi scanned the crowd for a certain familiar face. Because she hadn't seen him in two weeks, she wasn't sure if he even happened to remember her. A few moments later, she saw the back of his head. He was warming up with the rest of the team.

Kairi could feel her face go red when Selphie poked her on the shoulder. "Hurry up!" The younger girl then noticed the color in her cheeks. "Ooh... who are you staring at?" She giggled.

Kairi rolled her eyes as her face slowly regained it's normal color. She never answered Selphies question, but walked a little faster to catch up to her family in the stands. As they all sat down in whatever spot they could find near each other, everyone just started to talk to each other- Selphie to Yuffie, Cloud to Aerith and Squall to Maria. Was it just her, or was the whole family best friends with each other, leaving her as the odd one out?

As the game started, everyone hushed and watched the players in the pool. Kairi never understood Blitzball, and would never make an effort to. She just kept her eyes on Sora. When he was suddenly and forcefully pulled out of the pool, her eyes widened in curiosity.

Everyone could hear him clearly from the stands. And no one ever realized how good of a projection Sora's voice had.

"You're disqualified to play today, young man." The man who dragged him out glared holes through him.

Sora glared holes back. "WHY? I didn't do anything wrong!"

"Oh yes you did." Behind the man was a blonde girl, twirling her hair and smirking.

"UGH!" After Sora's cry of anger, he grabbed his bag and left the pool, not even taking one look behind him.

Kairi felt her face go red from the same anger that Sora felt. They just dragged him out for no good reason! She felt herself fuming, wanting to run after Sora, or, even better, slap that referee in the face. He was obviously favoring somebody.

She decided the first option was the best. Besides, she had no other reason for staying here, next to the people who made her feel unwanted.

When she got up, Aerith looked at her in confusion. "Where are you going? The game's not over yet."

"I... I've got to go to the bathroom." She hastily answered.

"Okay, it's that way." Aerith waved her hand in the opposite direction that Sora had gone.

Kairi walked that way without turning back. She'd find a way to Sora. Somehow, she told herself as she cut accross the green grass, past the bathrooms, then into the parking lot.

When she finally stopped, completely out of breath, she saw a car coming.

The last thing she heard was a loud, piercing screech.

-

AHAHAHAHAHHAAHA.

I couldn't help myself. I had to put a cliffie.

I really had to. XD

Oh yes, I didn't edit this because I was lazy. Feel free to point out the errors. XD

Anyway, if you want the next chapter to come...

You should review. You really should. 


	8. The Definition of a Daydream

A/N: Hola! This will probably be the last time I update for a while, since I will be going on vacation soon. Once I come back, though, I'm going to be updating lots!

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts.

Chapter 8: The Definition of a Daydream

"Are you okay?" Kairi heard a voice in the darkness.

She slowly opened her eyes and looked around. She was completely untouched by the car, which had thankfully stopped about two feet in front of her. She looked at the source of the voice.

It was Sora, the one person that she was looking for. She smiled in delight, but had suddenly become nervous by their closeness. "Are you okay?" He repeated, clearly wanting an answer.

"Y-yeah. I guess."

"Were you looking for something?" His blue eyes flickered at her. "You seemed to be in a hurry."

How was she supposed to answer that? She looked down at her feet, and chewed her bottom lip in thought. She twiddled with her fingers as she continued to think of an excuse, or something that she was looking for. She couldn't tell him that he was who she was looking for- what would he think, then?

"Look, Kairi, if it was about being kicked out of the game... it's okay. You should go back to support Wakka." He could see right through her nervous thinking habits. He reassuringly patted her shoulder, saying that it was alright for her just to leave him.

NO! She screamed in her head. I don't want to go back there. They probably won't even notice that I'm gone, and Wakka could care less if I got ran over by a car! Plus… I want to be here with you the way you were there for me… she mused. "I..." she muttered, barely audible to Sora."I don't want to go back." She spoke even softer than before.

Sora's demeanor completely changed, from one of a teenager shutting out his parents to one of great concern. His eyes softened, and he bent over a little to look into her eyes. "Do you want to... go somewhere?" He asked, beckoning towards his car. He seemed to understand what she was thinking.

Kairi felt her heart beat faster as he looked at her with those sparkling eyes. "Okay." She brightened from his suggestion and smiled.

He smiled back. There was something very special about the girl in front of him; he just couldn't pinpoint it out. "Come on, get in." He held the door of the passenger seat open for her, and saw her blush as she walked in. She was too cute. But there was something more than just her looks.

Soon enough, the car was cruising down a road, away from the blitzball game and pool. "Where are we going?" Kairi's eyes darted back and forth at the green scenery around her. She suddenly felt slightly suspicious of her surroundings. She'd never gone anywhere alone with someone she'd barely known, and no longer felt the comfort that she first had.

"You'll see." He smiled. Or was that a smirk? She couldn't tell. It was funny how she suddenly became so wary of him, and yet his voice could calm her down so easily. Maybe that's what lured her in so easily…

Soon enough, the car pulled into the parking lot of a quiet, secluded park. Being secluded suddenly made her feel even edgier... but when Sora offered his hand to her to help her out, it turned into a different kind of nervousness.

She didn't let go of his hand as they strolled through the park. As soon as he seemed to be happy with the spot they were in, he sat down and motioned for her to, also. Then, he let out a long and audible sigh.

Silence lingered among the two of them, until Kairi realized that he was still holding her hand. She embarrassingly let it slip out of his loose grasp, and then he looked at her. "I'm so mad that I got kicked out of the game. I didn't even do anything wrong." He let out another loud sigh, and Kairi saw that his fists were clenching in anger. "Marissa... I can't believe she would do this to me!" His voice shook in anger.

Kairi looked at him in amazement. He wasn't going to hurt her in any way- he just wanted to get away from it all.

Just like her. She shouldn't have worried.

"It'll be okay, Sora." She tried to sound comforting, but her voice was shaking as well- although it wasn't for the same reason of his. "I'm sure there will be other games."

"No! It's not going to work out that way..." He held his face in his hands. "Coach is going to kick me off the team now... I didn't realize that she was THAT upset. Although it was probably stupid of me to ditch her that one day, even though I knew that her dad refs all of our games."

All of the pieces were tying together in Kairi's mind now. That girl standing behind the man was this Marissa, and she was probably Sora's ex. But, wait, why'd he ditch her that one day?

Sora grinned Kairi. "You probably think I'm an idiot to do that now."

"No, you're not." Wanting to change the subject, she got up from her spot and brushed the dried grass off of her pants. She spied the swings nearby and ran towards them. "Let's go on the swings!" She smiled happily, seemingly forgetting all of her troubles.

She anxiously sat on a swing, ready to start, until she felt someone pull it back from behind her. It was Sora. He stood behind her for a while, pushing her and watching the swing go back and forth. He smiled to himself, because he knew that the girl in front of his eyes wasn't the girl that Wakka thought of as a brat.

"SORA!" Her anxious cry pulled him back down onto earth. "I'm going to jump off!" She was swinging quite high into the air by then, and let out a giggle.

Sora raised an eyebrow at her. "Are you crazy?"

"No, I'm just having fun!" She looked ready to jump.

Expecting to hit the ground on her feet as she flung herself off the swing, she felt arms wrap around her waist in midair. The two bodies landed on the ground with a soft thud, with Kairi on top of Sora. She smiled nervously as she tried to get up, only to be grasped a little bit tighter.

She looked directly into his beautiful blue eyes. They seemed to be in a far away world, from the way that he was looking at her. And then, suddenly...

...He kissed her.

It was everything that she had wanted in her first kiss, minus the awkward position that the two of them were in. After they broke apart, he let Kairi sit up. He also brought himself to a sitting position.

Even after the embrace was over, Kairi could still feel it in her imagination. She was reliving the event over and over again until she heard Sora's sudden suggestion.

"Let's... get away from here. Together."

She looked at him in surprise. "Wh-what?"

"We can get away from here- you from your family and me from my team." He gently squeezed her hand.

She was suddenly warming up to the idea. "Wh-where would we go?" She wondered out loud.

Sora grinned. "Wherever you want." He meant it, too, as long as it meant that he wouldn't have to face his team and his coach again.

A sudden thought came to her mind. Maybe he could take her back to Tifa, away from the family of perfection, away from it all! A big smile formed on her features. Now, she thought, I can have my happy ending.

A piercing roar of thunder suddenly came, along with more than a couple of raindrops. "Let's go," Sora suggested. He pulled her up from her position, and walked hand-in-hand with her to his car. "I'll drive you home."

No! No! No! The little voice in Kairi's head screamed. I don't want to go back there! A reassuring squeeze on her shoulder made her turn her head to Sora.

"Don't worry, Kairi. Soon enough... we'll be out of here, I guess." He smiled.

As they climbed into the car, Kairi smiled to herself.

Silence droned over the couple as Sora drove towards the Strife's house. Kairi was nervous because she knew that she was going to get scolded in a very harsh, but subtle way, and Sora was thinking about their escape.

"When do you want to meet?" He suddenly broke their thoughts. "I can come pick you up then..."

"It doesn't matter."

"Okay, how about two days from now, on Monday? At 7?"

Kairi nodded in agreement, although she secretly wished that they could leave sooner.

A short time after, Sora pulled into the Strife's driveway. "Thanks, Sora," she mumbled, and frowned.

"Kairi," he spoke. "Smile. Don't worry about it too much." He reassuringly kissed her cheek.

Kairi's mouth perked upward from his touch.

-

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? WE WERE WORRIED SICK!" Aerith flung her arms around Kairi as soon as she had entered the house. "When you didn't come back after 10 minutes, I sent Selphie to look for you... she said you weren't there, I was so worried..." Aerith was on the brink of tears.

Kairi stiffened in amazement. She was expecting for someone to yell at her with harsher words, but all Aerith did was weep for joy. Selphie came up and hugged her, after Aerith let her out of her grasp.

"I was so scared when I didn't find you there..." she whispered. The younger girl had obviously been crying, too.

In the middle of a reunion with Aerith and Selphie weeping, Cloud stormed in. "Kairi, I can't believe you. You're grounded. For two weeks."

Kairi looked at Aerith for support, but the woman shook her head. She obviously thought that Kairi had deserved it. How was she going to meet with Sora now?

"Go to your room, young lady." Cloud pointed up the stairs.

Kairi gladly ran up them.

As soon as she had reached her room, she jumped onto her bed and moaned into her pillow. She longed to scream into it instead, but the family's keen ears would hear her. She wished that she was still next to Sora, in the peaceful park.

She soon felt herself floating back into a peaceful daydream, almost feeling his kisses again.

-

A few days later, the phone rang in the middle of lunch. Wakka walked over to it, and looked at the caller ID. He picked it up, knowing who it was. After exchanging very few words, he turned to Kairi.

"Kairi, it's for you." He groaned as he handed her the phone. Why was his friend giving so much attention to his little sister? There was obviously something going on that most people were unaware of.

As Kairi bounced into the kitchen, she took the cordless phone in her hands and bounced back up the stairs with a giggled.

"How childish." Wakka rolled his eyes.

-

"Kairi? Are you still up for Monday?" Sora didn't sound the least bit assured.

"Of-of course. Why not?"

"I heard you were grounded from Saturday." His voice sounded tight.

"I-I..." she stuttered.

"I'm sorry, Kairi. I didn't mean to get you in trouble. And I wasn't serious about leaving... it was just a spur of the moment thing, you know?"

Her heart fell. "Okay." Her mumble was barely audible.

"But if you really want to..." It was the best he could do to comfort him.

A few tears started to roll down her cheeks. "You wouldn't know how much it would mean to me."

She could almost hear him smiling on the other end. "Then it's still set. How are you going to leave the house?"

The tears stopped coming from his comforting words. "Apparently they have a gig that I'm not going to, because there is no harp music in the part." For once, she didn't mind being excluded.

"Okay, then." He paused for a moment. "You know that you can call me whenever you need something... right?"

Kairi nodded into the phone. "...Yes."

For some reason, those words seemed familiar. Tifa automatically came to mind from this, and she felt herself sadden as she spoke to Sora. What if he was just humoring her the way that Tifa was? What if he really didn't want her in his life?

But there was something different. His affection was real. She would never admit it, but Tifa's comforting pats and hugs all seemed to be staged and awkward. Maybe... maybe it would be better not to go to her?

No, Kairi thought. She wasn't going to turn back on her decision now. She needed to get out of this place- although it didn't seem as bad as it used to. Kairi was starting to like practicing the harp now, and she was getting used to hearing all of the music around her-

NO! The stubborn part of her head argued with the rational side. Sora's offering you something that you've always wanted, don't let it slip away!

"Kairi? You there?" She felt as if she heard Sora's voice for the first time that night.

"Yeah."

"I need to go. I'll see you at 7 tomorrow, okay?"

Kairi smiled. The stubborn side had won again. "Okay."


	9. The Definition of Escape

A/N: Here it is, guys. You're in for a surprise… I hope.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 9: The Definition of Escape

"Okay, Kairi, you know where the emergency numbers are, right?" Aerith asked Kairi hastily. Before she could nod or respond, her mother added, "We should be back by nine, but don't worry if we come back later, kay?" She then ran out the door to get into the car with the rest of her family.

Kairi mindlessly waved goodbye to the car. She wasn't paying attention, really. In fact, Sora would be coming in about fifteen minutes, too soon for her. She had thought over the escape plan about a thousand times over the past day, and she was now sure, without a doubt, that it would be the right thing to do. She had already packed a small bag together with all of her important belongings, including the plastic, gold harp.

It was funny, when she looked back at her actual harp; she felt a small sense of longing to take it with her. She had shaken off that idea pretty quickly, knowing that it would be inconvenient, plus she did not want to bring anything that reminded her of this stage of her life. The harp, she had concluded, was what brought a possibly good family down to one that she had wanted to and would get rid of.

She heard a loud honking outside and peeked through the window, hoping it would be a certain someone. It was Sora's car, alright. She squealed as she anxiously ran outside and hastily locked the door. She honestly didn't know why she bothered to; perhaps it was her conscience. Sora had pulled the door open for her, and she hopped onto the seat. "Hi!" She smiled.

He grinned back, making her heart flutter. "Hey." As soon as she had buckled up, he drove off, not knowing which direction to go.

"So... uh..." He was looking through the car windshield in confusion. "Why did you want to leave so bad?" His face was filled with concern.

Kairi looked down at her lap. "I don't like it there. Everyone's so... perfect." She sighed and felt herself internally shaking, feeling a couple of tears ready to fall from her eyes. She blinked them away.

He turned a corner. "I know what you mean. I really don't get Aerith with her whole teaching thing. It's just so... different, you know?"

She nodded in agreement, and felt his hand cup over hers. Her face turned a little pink, but then got used to the fact that it was there, and enjoyed it.

"So, where do you want to go?" He broke the somewhat comfortable silence. "You seemed like you wanted to go somewhere pretty badly."

"I really want to..." she paused, thinking, What will he think if I ask him to take me to Tifa's? Is he really going to do it? No guy in his right mind would do something like that. Unless…

"Go on, I'll take you wherever. As long as it doesn't require going across the sea." He chuckled.

"I want to go to my social worker's home." There, that wasn't so hard, was it? She continued to stare down at her lap.

"Do you know her address?" Sora pulled into a parking space in front of a shopping center, and stopped the car engine so that they could talk.

Kairi flipped through the few things that she had, to find a slip of paper with Tifa's address and apartment number on it. She handed it to Sora. He frowned as he looked at it. "This is kind of far from here..."

"Oh." She blushed at her own stupidity. Didn't she remember the long car ride from her old home to Aerith's? Her old home was close to Tifa's…

"But it shouldn't be too far." His goofy grin told her that he was just saying so to make her feel better, although he was, also, troubled by the far-away location.

Soon enough, he pulled out of the parking lot, and back into the street traffic. His mouth was pressed into a straight line, wearing an expression that Kairi had never seen on him before. He looked even more stressed out than the day of the Blitzball game.

Maybe it was wrong to do this... Kairi thought to herself. He obviously wasn't up to their, or rather, her little plan, but was doing it for her because of an unknown reason. She rested her head on her hand, and sighed. Rain had started to pour from the sky, making the streets shimmer in the darkness.

She felt herself nodding off until she heard Sora slam on the brakes and mutter some unfriendly words. She looked up at him as he gritted his teeth in anger. He took a deep breath before he continued down the road, and tried to smile at Kairi. She, however, couldn't have believed him less.

After a few more minutes of Sora muttering under his breath about some other driver on the road, she spoke. "Why did you agree to this? You said yourself that you were just joking about it..."

Sora sighed, and then looked at her with concern. "Because..." he thought of his reply as he drove down the road. "...you wanted to."

-

"Kairi?" Aerith walked into the well-lit living room of her home. "Kairi?" She asked, a little bit louder.

"Where's Kairi?" Selphie entered the room, looking around anxiously. She then looked at her watch. "Well... it IS 9, and Kairi seems like she likes to sleep early..." The youngest girl reasoned with herself.

Aerith then dashed upstairs to Kairi's room, and flicked on the light, only to find an unmade bed. She stood in complete horror for a few moments, and then gasped. "SELPHIE!" She screamed for her youngest daughter. As she heard the quick footsteps of Selphie running up the stairs, Aerith hastily looked for any form of a note, or anything that might have told her where her daughter was at the moment.

"What-" Selphie stopped in the middle of her word. She, too, noticed the unmade bed.

Soon enough, the rest of the family had come into the room that where the two females were flipping through Kairi's things. Selphie had noticed that quite a few of the girl's things were missing.

Seeing Selphie's anxious dash, the rest of the family hurried up the stairs into the girl's room. The reactions they had were all completely different. Squall just huffed and left the room, Maria stood in shock, Cloud muttered quite a few curses, and Wakka was fidgeting with his fingers. The family looked at him, realizing that he seemed like he was the only one who knew of anything that was going on, and was doing a bad job of keeping a secret.

Cloud grabbed his son by the arm, and sat him down in Kairi's desk chair. "Spill."

-

It was now getting late, and the streets were now almost abandoned, by both cars and people. Although it was both clear to Sora and Kairi that they were lost, neither brought up the subject. Sora just continued to drive. Silence had come over them since his outburst.

Kairi's eyes flickered over to the car's backlit clock. It read 10:30. They had now been driving for 3 hours down to nowhere. Kairi didn't recall it taking this long to get to Tifa's home before. Maybe they had passed it? And although she didn't want to admit it, she was sleepy, and let out a yawn.

After slamming down the brakes one more time, Sora sighed and looked at Kairi. She had taken to notice that they were at a gas station, in a parking space. "It's obvious to both of us that we're lost. And it's also obvious that at this rate, we're not going to get there." He spoke bluntly, with the same stressed expression he had worn for the past few hours.

Kairi looked down and nodded in agreement. "So what are we going to do?"

He frowned as he thought about it. "Well, we're not going home, that's for sure. Both of our parents would kill us. So I thought... maybe..." he winced from his mind's suggestion, "we could go get a hotel room tonight."

Kairi's eyes widened in shock. She wondered if he was implying anything, but from the look on his face, she realized that he knew it would be as awkward as she was thinking.

As silence loomed between them, a clap of thunder struck in the night. "Okay... I guess." Kairi continued to frown as Sora drove to the nearby inn.

When he found a secure parking spot, they hopped out of the car. "Kairi," He looked at her with all the seriousness that he could muster, "we're going to say that we're siblings, okay? And we're just going to act if we're siblings tonight."

Kairi nodded in agreement- it was the best way to go; plus, she didn't have enough money to pay for a room of her own.

The two of them dashed into the hotel lobby, away from the rain. Despite their running, both Kairi and Sora's hair was wet. And, despite their situation, Kairi let out a giggle when a spike of Sora's hair flopped down in front of his face from the water.

She stood back as he walked over to the man at the counter, and waited until Sora was done talking to him. When he came back, he grinned and slipped one of the hotel card keys into her hands. "Need anything from the car?" he asked.

She shook her head, and pointed to the bag that she had on her shoulder.

"'Kay then, I'm going to go get a few things. Go get comfortable in the room; I'll be up there soon." He gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder."

The two parted, with Kairi walking towards the elevator and Sora out the main doors. She pressed the three on the elevator key pad, and waited as the elevator brought her up to the third floor. She casually walked out, and looked at the room numbers as she looked for her own. As she found it and walked into the room, she flopped directly onto the bed.

I'm such a burden, she thought. Such a burden to Sora... why did I have to ask him to do me such a big favor? And now we're stuck here for the night...

A few worries came to her mind as she looked down at the single bed. After all, she'd only known him for so long... what was going to happen? She had no defenses if Sora would try to... do something she wasn't ready for. But… would he actually do something like that?

She heard the door click open. Sora had obviously just come in. She sat up on the bed, and turned her eyes away from the male as he sat down next to her. "Look, Kairi..." he put his hand on her shoulder. She turned her head around to glance up at him, then down at her hands. "I'm sorry it had to happen this way. Let's just get some sleep, okay? I'll sleep on the floor." He spoke the words calmly.

"No. I'll sleep on the floor. You paid for it." Surprisingly, Kairi spoke in an authoritive manner.

"I can't let you do that, Kairi. I'm the male so you have to sleep on the bed." He patted her shoulder and smiled, telling her it was okay.

Kairi sighed, and then giggled. Funny how the tension was so easily raised. "Okay, you win. I'm... going to go change." She picked up her bag and walked into the bathroom.

While she changed, Sora turned on the TV, but wasn't watching it. How did he get into this mess? Why was she so... special? He had never had the nerve to go to such lengths for a girl, one that he barely knew at that.

The door to the bathroom opened, revealing Kairi in shorts and a big T shirt. She stretched and yawned, then walked over to the bed. She sat down on it, looking tired and limp.

"Tired?" He asked. She nodded.

He walked towards the bathroom door with his own bag. "Sweet dreams, then." He turned off the TV as he walked past it.

Kairi snuggled into the covers as she watched Sora go into the bathroom. She felt so guilty, having him do nearly everything for her. She slowly fell asleep, after hearing the click of the bathroom door.

A few hours passed by after Sora had come out and made a makeshift bed on the floor. He made sure that Kairi was sleeping deeply enough for him to watch TV with no sound. He was still contemplating what had just happened so many hours ago, and wasn't able to sleep. He watched her form as she slept, and noticed she seemed to shift and whine a little bit in her sleep.

While he was watching her, her eyes surprisingly flew open. They were filled with tears. "Sora?" she whimpered, reaching out for him.

He walked over to the bed and sat down next to her, taking her hand in his. "What's wrong?" She had never seemed to be so defenseless before…

"Why did you do this for me?" She scooted a little closer to him. "You didn't have to and you didn't want to... but you still did..." she rambled on.

He paused to think of a good answer. "Because... I care about you." He meant what he said.

She felt her lids pulling down over her eyes as she clenched his shirt. "Really? Then you're the first one..." she mumbled a few more words before falling back asleep.

He noticed that her hands were still gripping his shirt. He didn't want to peel her fingers off, so he did the only thing that he could- he wrapped his arms around her and fell asleep next to her.

-

Reviews, please. :D One more chapter to go!


	10. The Definition of Unconditional Love

A/N: Last chapter. I hope you guys like it, thank you SO much for the reviews!

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts.

Chapter 10: The Definition of Unconditional Love

When Kairi woke up the next morning, she didn't bother to open her eyes. Something felt

wrong... the bed that she was sleeping on wasn't as comfortable as the one that she usually did... she opened her eyes, only to see Sora's face. She held back the urge to scream.

Although she didn't mind being here, in Sora's arms, the fact that she was slightly disturbed her. She then thought back to the day before- their escape. Now everything made sense, except for the part that he was sleeping next to her. She recalled that he insisted on sleeping on the floor...

His eyes fluttered open in the middle of her thoughts. "Good morning," he grinned before getting up.

Kairi looked at him with a puzzled look. "What happened last night?"

When he looked at her, he saw the same girl that he had to comfort last night... the one that was completely lost, confused, and alone. "Kairi..." he looked at her softly, as if she would break from the slightest tough glance.

"Wh-what did I do?"

She obviously had no memory of her outcry the night before. "Nothing, Kairi. You just seemed kind of lonely."

She failed to believe his pathetic lie. How exactly does one look lonely in their sleep? She wondered to herself. He... he... he... she wanted to yell at him, but the words wouldn't come to her mind or out of her mouth. She just sat back against the wall, sighing in frustration. She liked Sora a lot, she really did, but somehow now it made her feel paranoid.

An awkward silence loomed between the two, until Kairi got up to change. She closed the door of the bathroom, then sat on the floor, thinking. After a few minutes, she realized that Sora might have been worried about her staying in there so long. She quickly changed, and when she walked out, she realized that Sora had also taken the chance to change.

"Are you ready to leave?" He asked her.

She nodded; feeling like someone had socked her in the stomach. She couldn't let go of the want to see Tifa, but what she really wanted was just to go home. Back to her harp, back to her crazily large family. She missed them. A lot.

Drowning in her thoughts, she didn't realize a few tears had come to her eyes or that Sora put his arm around her. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

-

"Are you absolutely SURE that they were going to go there?" Cloud grimaced as he thought of the time they were wasting just to find Kairi.

"I'm sure of it."

-

"You know which way we're going now, right?" Kairi asked Sora as they got into the car. The rain puddles had dried up by the time they had checked out of the hotel, due to the bright and sunny morning.

"I'm sure of it. I don't even think we're that far. Do you think she's going to be home?" The two of them got into the car.

Kairi nodded. As Sora started up the engine and backed out of the parking lot, Kairi smiled. She was feeling a lot happier than she was just half an hour ago, and was also feeling quite a bit chattier than she was yesterday evening.

Sora pulled onto the highway as they continued to talk. He seemed to know the way to Tifa's apartment pretty well, as if he had been in that area before. When questioned, he said that the team used to go to a place near there for a lot of gatherings, along with their yearly banquet.

Soon enough, they had pulled into the parking lot of Tifa's apartment building. Kairi walked ahead of Sora, knowing her apartment number. He followed closely behind, but had noticed that the closer that she got to the number, the slower she walked.

When she came to a full fledged stop, he assumed that this would be the right home. He walked up to Kairi, wondering why she was shaking. "What's wrong?"

"I-I... I don't know if she'll be home," she murmured, although it was clear to Sora that this wasn't the reason why she was so upset.

"Come on, knocking's not going to hurt." Sora tried to convince her, almost ready to knock himself.

"N-no. Let's just go back."

That comment was what had upset Sora. When she turned around, ready to walk back, he grasped her hand. "No, Kairi. You're not going back. We're going to do what we came here to do."

She blinked back a few tears. "I... can't. Because... what if Tifa doesn't want me? What if... she just wanted to get rid of me?" And then it all came out. Sora had heard parts of it before, but not the whole thing strung together. And now everything made sense. And after she had stopped crying, he pulled her up off the stair she was sitting on.

"Come on, we're going in."

"WHY?" she cried. "I already told you that..."

"But it's what you want... isn't it?"

She gave a meek nod. Sora then raised his hand up to the door and gave a loud knock. Then, they waited.

And continued to wait, until they heard a voice shout, "Coming!" They saw Tifa greet them at the door. "Well hello there, Kairi! I see you've traveled far to come see me. Come in, come in." She ushered the two of them in.

When Kairi walked in, she expected magic. The same magic that she had felt those other times she had walked in.

And yet, she felt none. She took a look at her surroundings, paying no attention to Tifa's apologizing to the mess. There was no great beauty in it, no great comfort. Tifa's being there didn't even have much of an effect.

When Sora and Kairi sat down on the couch, Tifa sat on a stool facing the two. "Now, what are you here for? I hope that Aerith and Cloud have been treating you well."

"Tifa, that's what I came to see you about... because... I don't want to continue living with the Strife's." Kairi spoke with a surprising confidence.

"You don't? Why not? You seemed to be perfectly happy a few weeks ago."

"Tifa," Kairi spoke in her most listen-to-me way, "I wasn't happy. I didn't even try to put on an act of being happy. And you made a promise."

Tifa's turned around from Kairi's words to hide her expression. She looked down at the floor beneath her, trying to find her words. "Kairi... the truth is... I'm pregnant. That's why I couldn't keep my promise to you, nor can I now that you've confronted me about it."

Kairi's eyes opened in shock. "Who-who..."

"Who's is it? I really don't know, Kairi, and that's what's troubling me. I can't be a single mother of two kids, and from seeing everything that you've been put through, I can't bring myself to put it into a foster home."

Kairi then burst into sobs. Sora pulled his arms around her, hugging her close, telling her that everything would be okay. She just continued to cry and Tifa continued to have a guilty look on her face.

As if on cue, there was knocking at the door again. Tifa walked up to it and opened it, only to have the entire Strife family flood through. Aerith was first to start crying, followed by Selphie. Aerith walked over to Kairi and almost squeezed out her breath with her hug. "We were worried sick. Do you not realize, that if Wakka hadn't known where you were going, we would have called the police? I was so scared that we lost you!"

Wakka got a glare from Sora after hearing what Aerith had to say, but everyone else was all smiles. Everyone reached out to give Kairi a hug, even Squall and Cloud.

After the large mass of hugs, Kairi looked at them with a confused look. "Why... why did you bother to come after me?"

"Oh, Kairi..." Aerith spoke, "we love you; we always have, even if sometimes we don't show it or tell you."

Kairi's eyes widened, and a smile formed on her face. "You... you do?"

"Of COURSE we do! Don't let anyone ever let you think otherwise, even your conscience!" Selphie giggled.

After another round of hugs, Kairi sat down next to Sora again. "Thank you..." she smiled.

And then, much to Kairi's surprise and everyone else's, Sora kissed her. "You're welcome."

"Now," Cloud interrupted. "Let's all get in the car so we can get back home."

-

A few days later, Sora came to see Kairi. Her greeting for him was a big hug.

"So how has everything been going?"

Honestly, Kairi had too much to tell him. Her harp teaching said her progress as a harpist was amazing, she had started to go along to the gigs, and she loved her family more than ever. Everything was the way that she had imagined it to be- sort of.

He smiled, and then kissed her cheek when she had finished talking.

"So how have you been?" Kairi asked.

"Oh, I've rejoined the Blitzball team." He grinned, before walking up the stairs to tell Wakka the news.

Kairi was all smiles.

-

Was the ending too corny? Haha, hope you liked it! Review:D


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